2013 is around the corner. Any resolutions you'd like to share?

[SamiHami]

Well, it's almost that time of year again...we have 2013 right around the corner. I know that a lot of people don't "do" new year's resolutions for various reasons, but I personally like to. A new year is, to me, like a new notebook-blank and full of all sorts of possibilities. After having three truly awful years in a row, I am determined that 2013 is going to be better. Much better. So, while I haven't fully formed my resolutions yet, I can see that they are going to tend to focus primarily on spiritual development, attitude improvement and learning to let go of anger/hurts/hatred in my life. After the events of the past 3 years, I am finding myself to be more introspective and am starting to believe that things won't improve outwardly until I improve myself from within.

So, for those of you who do resolutions, what are yours going to be?

[Amava]

One resolution I had for 2012 was to appreciate and enjoy the good things, and to be aware of them.  To be grateful and happy with the daily things that we so often take for granted, the things that seem so simple, like a beautiful morning and the flowers and birds in nature.

I think I have done rather well and I certainly intend to keep it up in 2013, maybe even do better.

[TurtleDove]

Amava, yes! My resolutions are not exactly "New Years" ones but yes, every day strive to be happy, right now, because right now is all we have, right now.  String together a whole bunch of right nows happy, and you have a happy life, regardless of anything that happens.

[yachtchick]

To deal with things in a more calm and positive manner.  And go to the gym more often.
 

[MrsCrazyPete]

Mine is to pay attention to how much TIME I spend. I can always make more money, but I can never get more time.

I don't know of anyone who, at the end of their life, wished that they had worked MORE. No, they always wished for more time with their family and friends.

[CrochetFanatic]

To have a better year than I had this year.  I wouldn't mind winning the lottery, too, but I'll settle for that.

[Piratelvr1121]

Strive for more patience is mine.  Patience when it comes to waiting for things and patience with other people. 

[wx4caster]

I realized sometime ago that the reason I don't like a certain coworker is that she always has an excuse about why she doesn't need to learn how to use new software at work.  Old (single use) software is being retired and eventually new software will handle all old applications. The first couple of times I could understand her reasoning but it's getting old and for some reason, it really rubbed me the wrong way.

More recently, I realized that I tend to complain a lot (I'm involved in the development of the new software and getting people in different offices from across the country to agree on anything can be extremely frustrating) and that my complaining could also be rubbing people the wrong way.  It was a light bulb moment and not in a good way.

So, my resolution for 2013 is to complain less and ask people how they are doing more.

[happygrrl]

One resolution I had for 2012 was to appreciate and enjoy the good things, and to be aware of them.  To be grateful and happy with the daily things that we so often take for granted, the things that seem so simple, like a beautiful morning and the flowers and birds in nature.

I think I have done rather well and I certainly intend to keep it up in 2013, maybe even do better.

This. I couldn't have said it better myself.

[SamiHami]

Those all sound really good, and in line with what I am striving for. I somehow went from being a very positive person to being a downer, and didn't even realize it. I want to be me again! I remember when I was a teenager my parents asking me every morning, "Well, what are you happy about today?" because I was such an optimist. With illnesses, job loss, deaths, divorces, and other family drama, the past 3 years have been very hard on me and I think I lost myself a bit. This is where that ends.

Time to start noticing the things I should be grateful for (including this forum and all of my Ehell friends who have been a great source of support through my various dramas!).

They say there are two types of people: those that make you happy by entering a room, and those that make you happy by leaving a room. I know which one I am going to be moving forward!

And I'm going to the gym more, too, Yachtchick! I just joined Planet Fitness and I love it! 

[snowflake]

SamiHami-

I know what you are talking about.  I don't want this thread to get too dark, but 16 years ago before Christmas I hit as rock bottom as you can in a first-world country.  I won't go into details, but I realized that I was letting bad things happen to me, doing bad things to other people, and I was a complete fraud.

So I decided that I was going to be a different person.  Over the next couple of years I became very positive and upbeat.  People used to tell me that I made them sick.  People said, "Look could you be sad for once?  You're annoying me."  And of course I heard, "Doesn't anything bad ever happen to you?"  I'd just smile and shrug. 

And then the past five years have been awful.  Besides some real tragedy I discovered that the support network I took for granted was not there.  I had to build a new one from scratch.  At the end of 2011, I heard someone say, "Don't you hate so-and-so?  She's always so happy.  It's like she lives a charmed life."  I nearly cried because they used to say that about me.  So I made the New Year's Resolution that I would be that person again.  As far as I'm concerned, faking happy is worth the effort because you at least get some real happy out of it.  It's more than you get when you're stewing in sad.

2012 didn't go so well.  There were a couple of hard deaths of people who were very close to me.  But I gave it my all between my self pity stints.  So I made a good show for some of it, but spent some months curled up in a fetal position and watching all nine seasons of X-files and eating ice cream.  (I'm not proud of that.) 

I see 2012 as some good practice time.  I'm really going to get the old me back in 2013.

[SamiHami]

Ah, Snowflake, you really do seem to get exactly where I'm coming from. Maybe we can support and encourage each other to stay on the positive path in the new year.

Also, I have to laugh at your screen name. There is a small pond in my neighborhood that my DH and I routinely drive by to look at the birds. There are certain ones we see all the time that we've named. We've named one of the small white egrets Snowflake, so forgive me if I am picturing you as a beautiful water bird!  (The other regulars are another, larger white egret, a blue heron of some type--smaller than others that I've seen) and two pairs of ducks. We also occasionally see a couple of pair of mergansers, which always amuse us. And during migration time we see geese. Lots and lots of geese. Lots. Many geese. A whole bunch of them.)

[mw8242]

After the terrible year I've had I found myself truly feeling good when I did some volunteer work in my town recently.
My friend's resolution last year was to do a 5k race once a month for the year.
So I'm combining the task w/the length = Doing 1 charitable effort each month. I don't want to just write a check, especially being underemployed so this means time.
I want to donate my time and energy to help people throughout the year.

I really hope I can stick with it better than I have my past resolutions about the gym 

[RebeccainGA]

I'm hoping to learn how to not be in crisis mode anymore. After all the drama of the last two years (having lost, or nearly lost, five family members and lost three animals, as well as having had my DD graduate HS, start at military training, and we had a cross country remote house-hunting and move) I have been in one crisis or another for as long as I can remember. I hope to re-learn how to be calm, to not feel like taking time for myself is somehow taking away from someone else, and that every little hiccup isn't going to lead to an ER visit!

[ica171]

2012 hasn't been a bad year--I had my daughter, after all--but I've spent pretty much the whole thing feeling like I was just off my game. Our routines are off, my homemaker stride is off, etc and I feel like I spent a lot of the year either exhausted or stressed. So while I do want to get things to go more smoothly at home, I also want to relax and be happier. My house may drive me crazy with all the things that are breaking in it, but we have a nice, safe place to live. I may not always get all the projects done that I want to do, but I have a loving family. I'm going to focus on gratitude and inner peace.