This year, you have an entire week to boil your 2010 resolution down to one word.
In ’09, I chose VENTURE. How did I do? Well, if we consider “venture” as a word that indicates to go forth, to travel, I certainly did that. Here’s a list of places I went in ’09:
St. Petersburg, FL; Guatemala; New York City (multiple times); Boston, Jacksonville, St. Simon’s Island GA, Atlanta, Winston-Salem NC, Indianapolis, Fort Lauderdale, Cumberland MD, Pittsburgh,, El Paso, Phoenix, Houston, Charleston, Austin, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sydney (Australia), Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, New Orleans (now my second home), London, Harrogate, Paris, Caen and the beaches of Normandy, Scotland, Milwaukee. (Remember this list when you see the tour schedule for I’D KNOW YOU ANYWHERE, which is scheduled to be published in August 2010. I’m going to travel considerably less in ’10. CAN YOU BLAME ME?)
But did I venture in other, less literal ways? I think so, although one project is still up in the air and won’t be resolved until midway through ’10, if ever. I wrote a novel, my fifteenth, that required me to do something a little different. I wrote only one short story, unless I’ve forgotten one. (Always possible.) I did NOT sing in public and I don’t think I ever will. In New Orleans, I venture out on my new old bike, an old-fashioned woman’s bike with a basket that allows me to run errands. On Christmas Day, zooming along the wonderfully empty streets, thinking about how much more I was enjoying my two-city lifestyle than I thought possible, resolving to be more open-minded about change in the future, I found a $100 bill lying in the street.
I did not, however, venture as far as I should in my reading. I read a lot in ’09, possibly more than I usually do because of the Kindle and all those long airplane trips. But my reading remains in its own comfort zone.
So what’s the word in ’10? For me, it’s MAINTAIN. As in:
Maintain my sanity.
Maintain my work habits.
Maintain the weight loss that is now going into its second year. (Keeping weight off for five years is considered statistically rare, so I’ve a ways to go.)
Maintain my active lifestyle, walking and biking whenever possible.
Maintain my roots.
Maintain my mind. (More Hilary Mantel, less Jersey Shore.)
Maintain my relationships.
I’m sure more will occur to me. But now it’s your turn.
Grateful.
My word is STRIVE
Strive to be a better person. Be more helpful, more gracious, more thankful, and strive to want less.
Happy Holidays to all. Look forward to your next book Laura.
My word is LOVE.
LOVE myself for who I am right now.
LOVE my thoughts, words, deeds, body, mind and soul.
If I LOVE myself completely, I can LOVE others more completely.
I’ll go with RECONNECT – with people whom I’ve not been in touch with for far too long, with writing fiction, with what really matters instead of the minutiae that often seems way more important than it really is, with favorite books and authors or those I hope will become favorites, with nature, etc. (Ironically, it would, or should, come at the expense of the time I spend on the Internet, i.e. connecting.)
Change!
Something I have not done in ever so long.
This year, I think i am going to go for “balance”. I need it in my physical being (I have very poor balance and while i use the wheelchair most of the time, still…) I must try to balance my need to Do Something with my need to recognize my limitations, to balance energy and drive with the reality that i can’t do what I used to. To figure out priorities and balance them against what I want to/can do and stop so much guilt-tripping and apologizing because dammit, I blew it again. .
BALANCE.
Humble
Happy Boxing Day, Laura. You forgot to tell us what you did with that $100 you found in the street.
My word is “Hope” and it seems to be my wish for every
year in my 60s and since I reach the end of this decade next year, it seems to be more significant:
One of the “hopes” that has been realized through the decades is a new book from Laura.
Just hope so I can truly look forward to each day, instead of dreading the dawn.
And I hope for the best for all my friends and family and hope that I am not as discouraged as I was this year. And hoping that Laura doesn’t travel as much in 2010. It makes me weary just reading about it.
I can’t decide, Willetta. Right now, it’s just on my nightstand, where it serves as a physical manifestation of my good luck, for which I try to be grateful every day.
My word is “Enjoy”. I am hoping that this year I will be able to enjoy my reading a lot more, enjoy my friendships, but most importantly amongst lots of other stuff enjoy my life!
That’s definitely challenging. And, it gives me a resolution: Challenge.
I will challenge my eating habits.
Challenge my exercise habits.
Challenge myself to increase reading time.
Challenge myself to reduce clutter and to make better use of what we have before buying more.
Challenge myself to find better ways to deal with stress. Although this year was a 12 on the 1-to-10 scale, there will always be stress at some level.
Thank you Laura!
My word for 2010 is “challenge.” This year I let myself and others get away with too much, as I bounced from task to task and never set any goals or boundaries. The serendipity of “Yes” is all well and good, but as this year ends, I am scattered and exhausted and suspect that no one got my best work. Next year I resolve to challenge assumptions � my own and other people’s � challenge myself, and set some goals that are just a little unrealistic.
How funny � M’Lou and I must have posted simultaneously!
My word is “simplify”.
Friends.
Complete. Partly because I have started on The Complete Beck Diet for Life, and partly because I have a tendency to not finish what I have started.
PRACTICE
as in:
yoga, patience, piano, humility, mindful eating, weight training, generosity, writing, spontaneity, faith, stewardship, random acts of loving kindness.
Freecycling–the giving away of things that I haven’t tossed because they are essentially intact and useful, just not to me. A basement is a dangerous thing. I don’t hoard, I don’t buy unnecessarily, and still the basement fills up. I took a strange and ungrateful pride in the fact that by Dec. 25 this year I managed to re-gift everything I received in the run-up to Christmas except a beautiful scarf hand-knitted by a dear friend.
If you haven’t used your local Freecycle listserv, check it out. I post offers once every two or three months, and no matter what I offer, it is claimed within a couple of hours. Most of mine have been the remnants of my son’s childhood, but other people post intriguing items like, “14 bottles of salad dressing, all opened, some expired,” and “Two naked GI Joes.”
No. Because this year I really need to work on saying no to things that I do not have the time and energy to commit to. Even if they sound fascinating and important and cool.
Cathy
My word is “savor.” Savor the present and the small joys it brings from moment to moment. Savor the past for what it teaches. Savor the future and the possibilities it offers.
(and we have almost the same name. This creates confusion)
Last year, it was FINISH. I didn’t. So instead of putting forth the same word, I’m switching to RELAX. When it’s meant to be, it will be
REBUILD.
2009 wasn’t a good year for me. It started with losing my job, and progressed. After a while, I just let everything happen and did what I could to maintain. Not that everything fell apart, but many things are overly muddled.
2010 will be about rebuilding my career, my finances, my writing, my training, my music, my peace of mind.
Freecycling is divine. I’ve given away great toys to families who can’t keep up, I’ve received things like a fine lapdesk I use pretty much daily. We gave away a computer desk, and I got a blender. It’s not one on one, mind you, but it’s a fine system and a great resolution. This underground economy really seems to serve low-income types like me and it’s lovely.
Real. As in be real. Get a real job. Don’t live in your fantasy world, get real. Life is real, don’t forget it. Truth is real. This is the real deal. I feel really strongly about things being real. Are you for real? See ya real soon! Verily I say unto you, these things are real. Real as in reality.
Hmmmmm. I was tempted to say “cook” or “bake”, because those activities are actually hard to do well, and enjoyable even when you DON’T do so well (like golf, and sex – as far as that goes!); but upon further reflection, I think 2010 for me will be all about “fatherhood”.
Not “new” fatherhood; but instead, we have a 14 year old son (and an 11 year old daughter, and a 5 year old daughter) – and, just as with the launch of a spaceship, maximum stress (and concurrent peril for the whole mission) comes early on. His transition from middle school to high school looms before us, and it will surely be challenging.
One secret that I’ve learned is – loading into the car and driving to a gas station on the other end of town (that has the extra good shaved ice for their fountain Diet Cokes) always presents the best opportunity to hear the most from him, about whatever he’s happy or upset about. So – we’ll keep that up!
PS – this past summer, that same 14 year old and I went to the movie theater, and as we exited our car, I spotted a $20 bill on the sidewalk. Picking it up, I found that there were two more crisp $20′s folded together, for $60.
The image that immediately struck me was of a family that had just hit the atm and went to the movies – and who were going to make a terrible discovery. Plus – my son was watching me to see what I’d do; so we immediately went straigh to the ticket window (maybe 10 feet away) and told the girl there (who was reading a paperback, about those vampires*) what we found, as we gave her the money. She looked a little thunderstruck, but accepted the money, as we agreed that it would be wonderful if someone came asking about it.
My son later wondered if she was going to keep the money – to which my reply was something like – all we can do is run our railroad, and let others run theirs (or whatever).
* Maybe that would be a good one-word secondary resolution for LL – “vampires”. Tess would make short work of folks like that.
Find.
Energy.
Find it, create it, make it, or fake it, I don’t know how but I have to get some.
Great entries. I’m sorry that some folks had such tough years and hope 2010 will be better.
As for energy: I swear by peanut butter, coffee and exercise.
Perservere. Even though 2009 is almost over, so many things happened this past year that have yet to run their course. Unfortunately, there are some things in the cards for 2010 that don’t look so good. But, I am going to “muster my wits” and keep going forward, do my best not to get mired down and keep digging through all the crap because with that much crap, there has to be a puppy on the other side of the pile!
YES. My first response is always no and I’d like to be more open to new things.
I’m going to have to get my lovely wife to make THAT resolution!
Sober.
Sandra,
I hope you’re saying “Yes” to the idea of a YA novel. I’m not one of those adults who reads a lot of YA, but if you returned to the field, I’d follow.
Hm. Why didn’t I post a word last year? I remember giving it great thought.
CELEBRATE. I spend so much time worrying, criticizing and harumphing that I don’t get nearly as much pleasure out of successes small and large, nor out of the wonder that is occassionally other people. Good things happen–I want to stop and absorb them; I want to CELEBRATE.
Laurie,
In my experience, we start writing when we’re ready. Some people are ready at 16, others at sixty. And it’s not about life experience, the lack or abundance thereof.
I tried to write for years. But I wasn’t ready until I was 34. Seemed ooooooooooooooooold at the time.
Prosper.
ThinER. I know better: I’ll never be thin, but I can be thinner.
Joy. As in, I want to live a more joyful life.
reach.
I need to try harder to reach beyond my tired old comfort zone in so many areas.
My one word resolution is WRITE.
I retired in February of 2009 and it took me half a year to figure out what I wanted to do when I grew up. I settled on pursuing my lifetime dream of writing. Why I didn’t start writing sooner in my life is beyond me. Anyhow 2010 will be my first full year as a “retiree” from my former career and 2010 starts my first full year as a writer.
ENGAGE.
Because I multi-task too much and although I can concentrate,
I have trouble engaging my emotions. Which is fatal for a writer.
Also because I want to be more engaged in the lives of friends and family. Isolation is great, but so is hanging out with other people (I hope).
Enjoy! is my word. I retire on February 1. I have two weekly volunteer gigs lined up(one with people and one with dogs- I love dogs-don’t even mind cleaning up after them) and my crochet for Afghanistan work). Without 40+ hours a week in an office plus a 2 hour daily(at least)roundtrip commute-I will have so much time to see museums(and drink the free coffee at the Portrait Gallery), walk in the park behind my house ,learn really good bread baking skills and finer cooking(and take that knife class- cooking, not fighting)- and read. I’m starting with Jonathan Yardley’s list of overlooked books. I had to postpone my march trip to London and Paris to June- more expensive but better weather.
I just read this a couple of days ago and just love the idea! My word for this year is “change.” Last year was a rough year with so many unexpected challenges thrown my way. So, now hopefully all that is in the past and I’m ready for things to change. I think I will finally land that new job and I think I finally convinced myself to leave No. VA and try living in Baltimore. All day today I just kept says “change” to myself and it felt great!