Resolutely I Will Go

The end of the year brings a tradition of ruminations about the year gone past, things done and not done, things said and not said, and dreams yet to be fulfilled. It is a cultural norm that we evaluate ourselves and our lives at this point in the year and make resolutions that we intend the carry out in the new year. There are, of course, endless stories in the media about how unlikely it is for you carry out your new year's resolution. So with the drive to make resolutions comes the inevitable why bother? Why bother if you are going to give it up in a few weeks?

One way to manage this phenomenon is not make resolutions at new year's but at any point in the year. I enjoy doing that because the cultural conversation about how you will stop following through on your resolution is quieter. More of a whisper than a shout as it is on December 29. Last year I started working out regularly about a week after my birthday. To be sure I stuck to the resolution, I enlisted support -- I told my boyfriend and a couple of trusted friends. I told them about the rough day of snowboarding for the first time and that I realized I wanted to be stronger so that I could have bigger life adventures. I think sharing my resolve in this way brought more meaning to it for me and for my friends. I also hired a personal trainer and I asked her to keep me accountable by working with me on goal-setting. I kept a chart that tracked my progress -- what I did when. In the end, I worked out at least 2-3 times a week (sometimes more)for much of the year. I was able to lift twice as much weight and run at twice the pace as when I started.

There is something to be said for the momentum of going along with everyone who is making a change at the new year but real long term success comes with what you choose to do each day. And that you can start any time.

The Reading about Not the Same as the Doing of

I found myself this morning at work early with 45 minutes to spare -- a rarity. Normally I would go direct to the office because "there is much to do." However, today found me getting decaf tea, healthy breakfast and time with Art Calendar magazine (http://www.artcalendar.com/). The time was very enriching and I got a lot of ideas about marketing and pricing my art. Great! I thought. I did something for my art today.

At lunch I read Eric Maisel’s Sunday column about living the creative life (available for free by going to http://www.ericmaisel.com/). In this week’s column, Eric discusses the difference between doing things around/about/near creativity that aren’t actually doing creativity. In his case he was sitting on a park bench outside Keats’ house. In my case, I was sitting in a coffee shop. He was giving his mind space for opening and creativity. I was giving mine a list of things to do that I’m not quite sure how I will get them done. In his case, he found new openings for his writing. In my case, I hadn’t created art today.

It was really interesting to notice that even with that time, I didn't sketch (even though I had my sketchbook with me). I read, but at the time I felt like the reading was okay because I was reading about art. So my learning this week is that the reading about still not the same as the doing of.

I’m off to sketch my desk top!