January 3rd, 2019

Be it resolved

The above is the title of almost all my new year’s resolution posts. It’s a boilerplate expression from formal debates, despite the fact that I never did debate in school–my life would probably be going better if I did–nor have even seen it practiced. But I like the expression.

Be it resolved that in 2019 I will continue to (aka a list of things that I’m proud of/worked out well in 2018)

• go to ballet class every week and yoga every other week, at least through July…hopefully all year, as well as the gym (almost) every morning
• floss every day
• avoid naps
• cook all the recipes from the Canadian Dairy Farmers’ Calendar
• follow people on Twitter who know things I don’t, especially Indigenous and trans activists (some of the issues I know the least about). Feel free to send recos!
• write cheerfully and freely on this blog about whatever I want whenever I want, as well as finish tidying up the issues created by the great BlueHost migration of 2018
• shut up on social media in January (and maybe February?) in the interests of listening more and better to others when I’m not talking so much myself. This seemed to go well last year. This blog and maybe Instagram will remain the exception(s).

Be it additionally resolved that in 2019 I will (aka a list of things that aren’t currently going so well/I could stand to change)

• write a couple hours (almost) every day. I took it pretty easy in 2018, which I’m fine with, but I don’t think I’d be fine with having another year that was equally low-productivity. I like the book I’m working on, but I keep better track of it when I’m more fully immersed.  In fact, I should also
• write a complete outline of the new book. I’ve never truly done this for any big project, but I’ve never worked this slowly or had such a hard time envisioning the whole forest because I was consumed by leaves and twigs, so I think it’s time. I don’t even think I’ve said the book’s working title to anyone in a year or so. It’s Killing It, by the way. 
• lose enough weight to wear my pink pencil skirt. I know, I should be in a place in my life that I don’t make body-shamey new year’s resolutions now, but I love that skirt.
• go car-free until summer. At that point, if we really miss it, maybe get a new car, but we have to have a chance to miss it first. 
• come to some sort of internal calm about going out to literary events. I am currently somehow both despondent about wanting to go to more events in order to feel more connected to new books and the lit community at large and friends I don’t see often enough in particular  AND overwhelmed by how much I have to do in a week and wanting to go to fewer events. I also get frustrated when I gamble on an event that winds up being boring or poorly organized and I don’t even know anyone there. I don’t know what the resolution looks like, but I need to find it instead of just being annoyed and tired all the time.
• work towards de-gendering my language. Once I started thinking about pronouns and how many people prefer they/them at this point in history, I started feeling weird about how relentlessly gendered my everyday words are. When I say “A woman on the subway laughed at my joke,” what part of the story is illuminated by “woman” instead of “person”? The hardest part of this will definitely be not starting every comment to more than one person with “Guys!”
• Buy a new bra.

That should do it. It’s easy to make this list longer and longer until it is just “become a perfect person,” so I’m going to stop while it’s still (somewhat) reasonable. 

Wishing you all health, happiness, and achievable goals in 2019!