I’m not a big one for New Year’s resolutions, in that I don’t ever make them just for the sake of making them. On the flip side, however, when I do make one, I tend to stick with it.
This year I am making the (ho-hum, yawn) stereotypical resolution to lose some weight. A few years back, when I stopped nursing the Little Miss, I was overweight and I worked really hard to lose 30+ pounds. Now I find the scale creeping up again – it’s nothing serious, but I’ve put back on enough that all the cute pants I bought to celebrate the weight loss are too tight, and the emergency one-size up pants I bought just to “tide me over” are now ALSO too tight, and that is…not good. So it’s back to watching what I eat and (GAG ME) exercising on occasion. Hopefully this horrible state of affairs doesn’t go on much longer, because people, I have PIE TO MAKE.
This might be the first year ever that I am actually making two resolutions, and the second is to find some focus in my life. I think this one has about an 80% chance of failure. Or maybe 85%. That’s because although I KNOW I need to stop trying to every single thing that catches my fancy, I still seem to think that I will magically produce five extra (energetic, alert) hours each day to get it all done. I want to design! and write! and bake! and teach! and parent full-time! and help friends! and exercise! and volunteer! and write a novel!
TOOOOOOOTALLY all going to happen, don’t you think?
Mostly I need to prioritize, so I’m not jumping from one thing to the next all the time, and to figure out which of these things really, really makes me happy and then try to pick just one. Or two. Maybe three, tops.
I get a whole year, right?
TurtleHead 
Are you joining some sort of a place, or following a specific diet? How are you going to start? I know how hard it is to focus on healthy eating, but cold, dark winters in Canada sure do invite for comfort foods….
What works for us is a bigger focus on protein (not just meat) and fresh fruit and veg (raw, if possible). Lots of lemon water in between. We cut way back on carbs coming from wheat specifically (bread and pasta) but still eat potatoes. Seasonings are spices rather than sauces or butter. Little processed food (never margarine, no artificial colours or seasonings, only oils high in omegas). And we eat early dinners, or if that’s not possible, bigger lunches and smaller dinners. We try….it doesn’t always work, but we try. 🙂
I don’t know what the right diet is for everyone’s unique body type, but feeling good inside (aka plenty of energy to make it through the day) is just as important, isn’t it.
Good luck with your resolution. I wish you all the best!
Ah, yes, focus. Good one. I actually made a table for myself – Monday to Friday with blocks of time – and filled in what I aim to be doing in each of those blocks. For me it was more about making sure I’m being realistic about my time and accomplishing the things I already know I want to accomplish. However, it occurs to me that if you actually look at the time you have available and then ask yourself “what goes in here? Baking or writing?” you may get the answer. I find making decisions is always easier when it’s narrowed down to “this one” or “that one” – your gut usually knows which is the right one.
Re: the other – weight / food / fitness – for me it’s usually about changing one small, easy thing at a time. For example a while ago I realized I wasn’t drinking nearly the amount of skim milk I used to. I LOVE milk and I’m not lactose intolerant so I upped my skim milk consumption (and probably lowered my consumption of other bad stuff) and, voila, over a year I lost five pounds which were not coming back on because they weren’t lost as the result of a fad or trend. Similarly, every now and then I look at my habits and think “I could take that out”. E.g. swiping one (or two or three) extra slices of cheese when I’m making the kids’ lunches. Easy, easy, easy, fat and calories to cut out and, really, that kind of eating isn’t enjoyable – it’s fast, furtive and fattening.
Anyway, there is no “commenting on blogs” in my new work schedule so bye for now!
sadly I chose to make no resolutions because I know I won’t keep any. 😦
I hear ya. Well, not so much on doing too many things for me as doing not enough things because hey, there are books to read. I spent today roasting chicken and vegetables to freeze in the hopes of cutting down on less-healthy eating because of poor organizational skills. I’m also chewing gum from the huge can of gum I bought after I read a tip to chew gum while preparing meals or kids’ lunches to stop food from jumping into my mouth, because it TOTALLY DOES, and this tip is working quite well – you know, for the day and a half I’ve been trying it.
As for the other – I’m not going to be any help. I think you do a lot of things well already. I’m not sure narrowing your focus is all that necessary. Do you want to slap me now?
Focussing is sooooooo very hard, isn’t it? I seem to bounce all over the place, even when I swear I will pare down my activities, take it easy, and RELAX (!) – yeah, right. As soon as I manage to get one thing off my plate I add two more. It does keep life interesting, though. 🙂
I love focus! If you want help making a plan let me know. 🙂
For 2013 I’m resolving to give up crack cocaine. I have never used cocaine — of the crack or not-crack variety — so it’ll be an easy resolution to stick with. Because I think a hollow victory is still a victory.
Good luck w/ the diet and the focus. And the pie. Mmmmm, pie. Wait — what was I going on about?
I want five extra alert hours a day too… where do I sign up for those? My focus is a bit off these days as well and I want to do all the things too. I’m trying to get better at picking a few projects that I really love, but I always seem to get sucked into something else. Gotta get my head back in the game. I’ve been using myfitnesspal.com for tracking food and exercise.
Wow. I have the exact same list of things I want to do as you. I also have the exact same lack of an extra five hours in a day. Sigh. Good luck!!
Don’t feel too bad. They say people are happiest when their life has meaning, and I believe having passions help bring meaning.
In contrary, every year my resolution is to find something I give a damn about, but after years of trying, I’m still searching.
New Years Resolutions are difficult for me to get excited about because now that I have school age kids my real New Year starts in September – that’s when all our new activities get slotted in and the life that I get to live gets slotted in around those activities. So by the time Jan 1 rolls around, I already have a pretty good sense of what’s working and what isn’t and have made adjustments as needed. Having said that, focus – or lack there of – is something I can totally identify with. You expressed it so well; that you have so many things that interest you and so little time to devote to each of those. And your blog does a great job of communicating how full your life is – kids, writing, design, community, friends! That’s why its so much fun to read!
I highly recommend Martha Beck’s books for helping a person decide how they want their life to be organized – where to focus time and effort to lead to the most satisfaction. My favourite of hers is “Steering By Starlight”, followed closely by “Finding Your Own North Star”. Steering by Starlight is a book I keep on my bedside table and refer to it often to remind myself where I want to be heading. Because its really easy to have ourselves be lost in the day to day busyness that is kids and work and family.
Anyhoo, this is a really long way of saying your blog is great and I hope you are able to figure out how to pursue the things you want most.
Aw, that is super nice of you, Jacquelyn! I’ll put Martha Beck’s book on my library reserve list…thanks! Also: love the idea of making resolutions in September instead of January. That makes SO much sense. Resolved: make a resolutions revolution!