Resolve--by Bryan F.

There is a feeling out there that New Year's resolutions are dumb and you just end up gaining more weight or drinking more than you did the previous year. I think this is because most people overlook the obvious: you need a plan, a good one that is adjustable. It has to be equal to the difficulty of the desired change. Like the commitment that’s needed to quit smoking is much greater and requires more planning and work than the commitment to smile at more strangers. Past failures have caused many to become cynical about this idea of resolutions. It’s our resolve however that drives us. I don’t want to sit with my engine idling for the next year, or next ten years. It is a new decade and that makes it seem even more relevant to me. Observing sixty-five years fly by in a flash is also motivating.

Any time of year is a good time to resolve to make your life or those of others better, but the New Year and new decade has some helpful symbolism; a new beginning, a fresh start. 'This year will be one I can look back on with a feeling of accomplishment', is a good affirmation. Then decide what that will mean for you. You’ve got to write it down though, to bring it into the physical world. 

So, I’m all for New Year's resolutions, but they must be more than a scribbled list of wants. A well thought out plan with a commitment backed by a strong desire to change something for the better; to make a better plan for your life path. Journaling about this could help one to find where it is they’d like to be in a year. 

I’ve had some reversals this year that are causing me some anxiety and a desire to make some adjustments. I re-gained thirty-five pounds that I had lost over a two and a half year period. I’ve been going to the gym but my level of commitment has been dampened by some injuries and a few other distractions. At sixty-five it seems that my body is much less forgiving than it once was. I’ve inadvertently increased my consumption of simple carbs and not been as restrictive about sweets. I guess I was rewarding myself with foods that were not serving me well in the end. With a strong hereditary risk of diabetes, I know that this is something that warrants my immediate attention. The new year might as well be a catalyst for that change. I don’t really count this as a resolution. This is a choice between living a healthy senior life or being sick in some pee smelling nursing home or worse. 

I still need a plan though: planning menus, preparing meals in advance and reminding myself of the benefits of passing up the cookie aisle. Of course, getting to the gym and scheduling more walks around my park with the pup is essential. 

Weight gain aside this last year has brought something new that feels very right. I’m writing this weekly blog post and getting it in on time. I’m stumbling and pulling out my hair occasionally to come up with something I think someone might want to read. It’s hard and I’m getting a little better. It also serves to stimulate my mind and gives me a goal to complete each week. I also know that it gives me a feeling of accomplishment; something that seniors often lack. It also stimulates my mind and that has to be helpful in this time of older age.

Beautiful library in Prague

I think it would benefit me to create some more goals. One would be to read a lot more. I’ve been reading Stephen King’s book ‘On Writing’ and he cannot emphasize enough the need to read, and a lot in order to be a good writer. I’ve heard this in the past and know it’s true. I have allowed the plethora of streaming options and social media to cut into my reading time, I need to reverse that. I would love to be able to call myself at least a fair to good writer before I depart this world. I’m committing to and gifting myself the task and joy of reading at least two books or more a month, depending on their length. Writing is a stimulating and hard exercise. I’m hearing more and more about how such activities for people my age can improve cognitive function. 

Building my vocabulary and polishing my grammar skills has to go hand in hand with reading to improve my writing skills. I am exploring tools to make that happen. With the miracle of the digital age, this is much easier than it once was. 

Another proven cognitive function improvement skill is knitting. I can barely do a couple of rows at this point. I want to be knitting at, at least a fair level by next year's end.

Another brain-friendly exercise is the guitar. I’m not completely ignorant in the music department. I played trombone for four years in school, even marching at football games and parades. My Grandma bought me a Yamaha in 2006 for Christmas before she died the following year. I think it’s either time to start or to let it go for sale. 

I also love languages. I took Spanish from sixth grade through twelfth. I actually took Spanish and French in my senior year to bolster my GPA which was sagging a bit from those nasty math courses. Languages come to me easily. I took both Spanish and French in college when I returned to school in 1998. 

Madrid, Spain

I would like to add becoming fluent in Spanish or French, or maybe starting Russian or Italian, but I think one thing I need to keep in mind is the plan. Would that fit into what I already know I want to do for sure: knitting, guitar, reading and improving my writing skills and exercising more. 

That’s where the plan comes in: time management. Something any successful college student understands. Without it and with the level of work I’m preparing to commit to, failure is nearly guaranteed without it. 

So I’ll start out with what I believe I can do within a very workable time management schedule and if I have extra time, then I can add a foreign language or something else that might strike my fancy. 

The writing has been easier because others are counting on me. With the rest of it, I won’t have that and it will be more difficult. I do have my brother as a gym buddy and that is really helpful with the commitment. The rest will be more difficult, but then the difficulty is what causes us to grow stronger. 

‘This or something better now manifests for the higher good of all.’ This prayer which I have been reciting since the mid-eighties reminds me to accept whatever comes my way or seems to get in my way and to recognize that as my path and to keep my eyes open for that which I was not seeking but might be a better way. It also reminds me to keep the welfare of others in mind while tending my fields. A prayer I was gifted by a Wiccan friend long ago and the only one I ever recite. 

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