Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Resolution disillusion

New Years resolutions: I don't make them.

I don't see why we feel there is something magical about the first day of the year that empowers us to change our ways. Have you checked out the number of treadmills for sale crazy cheap on Craigslist in February? It doesn't work.

I think this picture my friend found on Pinterest sums it up



Maybe we should get automatic do overs on Chinese New Year or rosh hashannah...

It makes me wonder too if many people only engage in self reflection ONLY on this magical day.

Ideally we should be performing self analysis continually but based on the fall of our society, it appears as though analyzing Taylor swifts love life and Kim kardashians new muffin top (which apparently is a baby...) has taken the slot of time self reflection once held in previous generations.

We were fortunate enough to have wonderful friends to have us over for their annual NYE party. Upon arriving I saw my best friends sacred chalk board had been wiped bare , save for one Winnie the Pooh quote. The magnitude of this was lost on Many at the party but i knew there were strict rules surrounding THE WALL.

Kids are not allowed to write on it. No walking by it, lest you rub away words with your back side.

Apparently something terrible had happened.

In actuality she had some kind of lapse in judgement and opened her board up to her guests to write resolutions upon.

I panicked a bit.

1. My handwriting is not charming on paper. Atrocious in chalk.

(I was an education major until I got married and quickly got pregnant with laci. Writing in chalk was one of my hesitations with continuing. True story ;) )

2. I don't make resolutions.

However that morning I had decided that I need to learn to make an awesome fried egg and had made mental note to begin immediately. I failed.

So I had that...

Not many people at the party made resolutions either apparently or Many shared my handwriting/chalk writing affliction.

Since no one was writing we began doing what any good gadget lovingAmerican would do.

We googled and Pinterest searched "New Years Resolutions"

What came out of the resolution theft were some really lovely ideals.

I will live by a standard of grace, not a standard of perfection.


How amazing is that?

So amazing that after ridiculing the hostess for putting up fake resolutions on her sacred wall that I made it my Facebook status as my resolution.

As a joke.

But by God I got a bunch of likes - immediately...

So it resonates.

And who doesn't need to remember that?

I think especially as moms we expect so much of ourselves and beat ourselves up Everytime the littles act as though the world shall cease to revolve because we have no more blue Popsicles in the freezer. Or when we say no you cannot go to your friends house because youve had three weeks notice to clean your room and no that green fungus growing off the old socks and underwear in the corner is not a science project it's exhibit A in WHY YOU ARE GROUNDED.

Or when we only gave them nine hugs today because baby little had a fever and took all our time.

Or or or....

The lack of grace we give ourselves in the little things spills over into our overall existence and how we relate to others - especially the ones we are trying to uphold this high standard for.

In addition we all could really apply it to others in our lives too. We all have people in our lives who may hurt us often - intentionally or unintentionally - or continually let us down.

There are times when action should be taken. No one should be allowed to harm you again and again but there are many more times when we could over look the grievances that would not only benefit the offending party but ourselves as well.

Extending a little more grace and expecting a tad less perfection from ourselves and those in our lives will bring so much more happiness to life.

God doesn't even require perfection but extends overwhelming grace to all who will receive, so who are we to expect perfection of ourselves?

So I may have stolen it but I plan to enact it.


Some other good ones we stole were:

Replace fear with curiosity.



^ so good.

Find a way , not an excuse.




(Stolen from Pinterest but reworded by me)

"Find something you're passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it" - Julia child.




Amazing.

Some real heartfelt ones:

Laugh more . Yell less.


Excellent

-
Clean less
Worry less
Eat less
Be happy


Eat more. Greens


We all should ...

-
Drink more . * water.


* or maybe not water?

My first one-

Live in the moment. (And learn to make a good fried egg)





Live in the moment is not very original but something I need to be better at. I just want to stop and soak in the here and now.

My kids giggles.
The smell of their hair.
The touch of My husbands hand in mine.

I want to live life - now. In the moment.

My other one i came up with that I liked so much was

See Beauty
in the
Mess.



It can be symbolic for bad situations but for me also quite literal. I'm pretty open with the escapades of Ella and Layla and My life is a never ending mess right now.

I can't sweep a floor without having my cabinets painted by a two year old.


It's so easy to get caught up in the problem and I was so stressed with never getting ahead and never being able to accomplish things without having a trail of disaster in the opposite way mainly due to Layla that I was having physical symptoms from it for a few weeks.

No I don't want to have to find a gentle way to clean my cabinets off on Christmas Eve eve when I was making progress on cleaning floors. But this girls love of nail polish and splashes of color in random places is endearing.

Applied to bigger thing in life this outlook could prove to be so much greater, but even in the literal sense it will help my life immensely.

So I still don't make "resolutions" but I am really going to try and adopt these ideals into my life.

And I'm believing 2013 will be better for it for all in my life .



Lacis resolution contribution -


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2 comments:

  1. I love you! Just now catching up on reading your blog...and no YOU were the only person who understood the magnitude of what I was giving by allowing them to write on my wall...your fried egg one is still there :)

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    Replies
    1. I think with your add a bit of water tip- Ive achieved fried egg greatness. How many people can say they have accomplished their resolutions in January?

      Did you take others down? Lets paint my wall and fridge soon:) and get tattoos.

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