Looking forward with hope

By Rick Blechta

Some folks are energized by a fresh new year. Some find themselves fighting off depression.

I belong in the former camp, and much like Mssr. Skelton, I always make resolutions for the new year. Sometime I even keep them!

This year, it’s tougher. My family’s recent brush with covid and the ongoing issues — Ontario where I live is going into a limited lockdown again tomorrow (this should have been done before Christmas, but our government decided not to heed the warnings, sigh) — it’s harder to see a clear path ahead.

I’ve found the trick with resolutions is to not make them too tough. How many times have I made the exercise one into “I’m going to walk 5 miles every day” and then fail by the end of the month?

So considering what we’re currently facing and how the way ahead is more clouded than ever, I’m being particularly modest this year.

Here in no particular order is my list of resolutions for 2022:

• Go out for a walk 4 times a week (as long as it’s not slippery. I don’t need another fall!)
• Write at least 1000 words per day — even if I throw them all out the next day
• Make the bed every day (I’m four for four on that, in fact I even started before the new year!)
• Weigh less on December 31, 2022 than I did the previous New Year’s Eve
• Contact at least one old friend per week for no reason other than to hear their voice
• Keep at least four of the above resolutions.

I know my list sounds uninspiring, but it is carefully-crafted and doable, I believe. If I keep to it, I will leave 2022 behind feeling satisfied with my progress.

Three years ago, one of my resolutions was to practise every day. That one has been a great success. In 2021, for example, I at least warmed up on 349 days, and on five of the empty days, I was sick.

Six years ago, my resolution was to reorganize our kitchen, making sure everything was in a logical place, and then sticking to the reorganization by putting everything back in its place when I was done with it. That too worked really well. Now I don’t even think about it. I just put everything away.

Two big, although modest wins.

That’s what I aim to do this year. Go into 2023 feeling good about myself because I stuck to it.

And in these dark times, isn’t that a big plus?