1) I will get into the best shape of my life in the year to come. This is not, I'm somewhat ashamed to say, as challenging a resolution as it might be for some. But the fact is that I have never been a particularly fit person, and this lack affects me on many levels. Most importantly, perhaps- albeit shallow- is the simple reality that as a Western acculturated woman, I base a massive portion of my self-esteem on my looks...and my looks are NOT those of a particularly fit individual. The emotional component of fitness is at least as important to me as the physical, though I have no doubt the two are intimately intertwined.
2) I will organize and design/decorate my home- inside and out- to an extent that I at least do not feel embarrassed and/or ashamed at the state of my dwelling. I am a rigid perfectionist, and as is common for such persons, I tend to allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good to such an extent that, in the case of my home, I often feel too overwhelmed to even attempt at making reality live up to my imagined possibility. That needs to change. Some art hung on the walls is better than none, even if it is less than all. Small steps are better than no steps, even if at first they may not even be apparent as part of the Big Picture. But I have had time enough to acclimate myself to the challenges of home ownership, and must face the reality of intimidation by viewing it as a challenge rather than an insurmountable juggernaut.
3) I will, within the next 12 months, attain a reasonable degree of spanish language fluency. I don't need to be ready to fill a UN simultaneous translator's seat..."reasonable" is the key word here. But I've been putting it off long enough, and I happen to be blessed with a wonderfully large and diverse local population of bilingual speakers...the time has come to take advantage of this, rather than continue in my cycle of jealousy and embarrassment at my lack of knowledge.
It is my hope that, in posting my resolutions in this most public of forums, I will be both encouraged by my internal sense of motivating shame AND by the external noodging of my friends and any general public who happen to drop in.
Thank you for reading, and enjoy your new year!
