Unresolved
A new year is almost upon us…like Miss USA on Miss Teen USA.
Many people are going to make resolutions, write goals lists, and turn over new leaves for 2007. Not me. Well, not officially anyway. I learned long ago that I’m not a “long haul” person in certain respects. For example, I’ll usually buy a day planner sometime during the first half of the year. Hopes are high. “This is the year I will write everything down. This is the year I will simply have to flip open my little planner and see everything I have to do.” I am like an optimistic little ant carrying a morsel back to his ant hill…
…until the cruel thumb of reality crushes my thorax against the pavement and flicks my morsel out of reach.
You see, the day planner goes well for about a week or two. Then I become a failure magnet. It progresses much like this:
“I got a new day planner! I’m going to write my appointments in!”
“It feels so good to be organized. I hope I can keep on top of this.”
“Hmm. I’ll have to wait to get a pen to write this new appointment in.”
“I really have to remember to use my planner. I’ve gone a whole month without using it.”
“I think I lost my planner.”
“Hey! The planner I lost four months ago!”
“This table is wobbly. Ooo, I’ll put my planner under here to stablize it.”
“I’m out of toilet paper. I guess I could rip out January through May and use that.”
“I just gave myself a left heart catheterization with the spiral wire from my day planner. I should buy one of these again next year.”
And so, the cycle continues year after year.
You see? Optimism can only get you so far. (Although I will admit that the left heart catheterization is pretty impressive.) Then you realize, “Oh, that’s right. I’m not good at follow-through. I am almost certainly headed for failure.” That’s the thing about resolutions. If you make them, you are apt to break them. If you don’t make them, any improvement you make in your life is a bonus instead of an obligation to your resolution. Keep those expectations low, and you won’t be disappointed. That’s why although I may want to be more organized, I never make an official statement of resolution. If you turn over a new leaf, you will most likely be raking up a pile of dry, crumbling intentions by March.
I’ll leave my leaf on the tree, watching it blow gently in the wind.
And then I’ll realize I just missed an important meeting.
Rachel responds:
Posted: December 20th, 2006 at 10:04 am →
LOL. I am the same way with a planner. I just don’t keep up on it. I find that my wall calendar at work is the only one that I actully keep up on. And that one is pretty sparse.
I am hoping to get a new wall calendar next year, not the ugly one that I got free from the grocery store.
On a side note, I HATE daily and weekly calendars and desktop calendars. Unless they are funny. Then I can handle the daily ones but I still won’t write anything on them. They are just for fun.
Andy responds:
Posted: December 20th, 2006 at 2:40 pm →
day planners? I don’t even buy a calendar until the middle of January, if I remember.
Leigh responds:
Posted: December 21st, 2006 at 3:07 pm →
I just have to say, I noticed you gave yourself a “left heart catheritization.” Are you implying you also have a right heart?
Either way, we love you and both your hearts!
BTW-I am the planner type 8P