I was trying to think of a resolution, and there were so many things I want to work on throughout the year. Being able to (mostly) quit smoking and handle my dad’s illness like a champ has inspired me to tackle everything I want to change. I’m starting to realize that I can do anything.
However, I have a pretty shitty history in terms of keeping up resolutions. It takes me roughly a month before I abandon them. So this year, that’s exactly what I plan to do: attempt 12 resolutions, one month at a time.
January w/o Laziness
Every year, I vow to workout every day. Every year, I fail. Perhaps if I jump into this with the knowledge that I only have to keep it up for a month, I can do it. This means some form of extra exercise every single day, even if it’s a walk to the grocery store or 10 minutes with my ab roller.
February w/o Cheese
No joke, my cheese addiction is the reason I’ve started this whole experiment. I have an honest-to-goodness problem. I’ve refrained buying fancy kinds in the past because I will eat an entire block within a day. However, the cheese room at Schnucks has become irresistible to me. It is no coincidence that I chose the shortest month for this. God help me with every second of February.
March w/o Booze
When you have a sleep disorder and an almost-dying father, it can be easy to excuse a regular glass of wine or tallboy as a “nightcap”. I hate being drunk and that’s never my goal, but I certainly take advantage of the way it calms my nerves. But at some point, I need to cut it out, both for the sake of my waist and my liver. March is the month where I gained an insane amount of weight last year, thanks to the unholy convergence of Fish Frys* and Girl Scout Cookies. Perhaps 1,000 less calories a week will help?
April w/o Credit Cards Internet Addiction (and Slouching)
EFF YOU CREDIT CARDS. It’s just… you guys… credit cards are so bad and I need to get away from them forever. Like I said before, my one huge goal in 2010 is to eliminate half my debt, so this will kick my ass in any areas I still haven’t improved upon after 3 months.
I’m already kicking ass at this (far more than expected – go me!), so I’m changing my goal to cutting back on the Internet and improving my posture!
May w/o Saying or Writing The Word “I”
Obviously this is impossible, but in a month with 2 weddings, 5 birthdays, and mother’s day, I’ll already be in the mindset to think about others and hopefully that will help. Expect a lot of pop culture nonsense and terribly-constructed sentences. It’s time to shut up about me for a while.
June w/o Facebook
I’ll sort of be cheating here because if I get a notification of a message in my gmail, I’ll probably have to open it. But I will only reply via email or text! I promise! No status updates, comments, picture posting or obsessive Live Feed checking.
July w/o Procrastination
This will be the busiest month of my work, so this shouldn’t be a problem. But I also have a few other projects in the works – screenplays, collabs with NPR pals, etc., that I’ve been putting on hold. July will be the month I finish it all. I’ll probably be inside hiding from heat with air conditioning so it will be easier than I think.
August w/o Instant Food
Janet has inspired me to start cooking more. This is something I’ve already begun, but this month I’m going to cook every meal, unless there’s a special occasion where I have to go out to eat. Hopefully by then I’ll be an old pro at this.
September w/o Waste
Actively recycling everything I possibly can, eating all my produce before it goes bad, buying products with more environmentally-conscious packaging in mind (like bars of soap instead of bottles of shower gel). Also no wasting money – coupons, sacrifices, etc. Becoming VERY aware of what I purchase in general – do I really need this? This leads into the next month…
October w/o Clutter
I’ll probably be moving at this point, into a situation with a worse (albeit cuter) pack rat than me. There is no better time to weed through your crap than when you’re faced with the thought of carrying it all at once to a new location. All unnecessary stuff goes – preferably on eBay. Also, if my mom hasn’t relocated by then, this will be the moment where I attack her basement – a.k.a. Where Couches Go To Die.
November w/o Sugar
Because my teeth, they be ouchie. I think I inherited some very weak teeth genes from whoever made me. I desperately need to get a handle on this and besides, I’m curious of the physical effects. Growing up with a diabetic in the house means I can handle (and in some cases, prefer) sugar free versions of most foods. Plus, this way Holiday Sweets can GO AWAY.
December w/o ?????
This year is all about identifying issues/habits/food/choices that I see as problems. Harmful stuff. Stupid stuff. But there’s no way I can identify all of them at once. When I quit smoking last year, so many new bad habits came out of the woodwork to replace it. Maybe by attacking 11 problems in 2010, at least one new issue will come out of the woodwork. (And sorry, “December w/o Blogging” ain’t gonna happen.) This one is reserved for problems yet unseen. I’m looking forward to discovering what else is wrong with me.
I don’t plan on writing about this too often. Only at the beginning and end of the month, or at times when this actually affects my day to the point when it’s work mentioning.
I’m just choosing 12 things – habits, addictions, faults – that bother me about myself. Think of this as 12 Lents in a row. Hopefully some of these habits will stick, or the benefits will be so obvious that I’ll never want to go back.
*”Fish Fries” looks wrong to me – like something on a Captain D’s menu. I cannot.
Secretly Stephie 