2013 Resolutions

For all of my life, up until last year, I sucked at New Year's Resolutions.  I would say "Okay!  I'm gonna do XYZ"  and within a day, maybe a week, the resolution would die and I wouldn't even bother to try to revive it.  I know that's a common thing, for people to make resolutions and then not follow through, but I think I've figured out why people's resolutions don't make it.  Reflection!  I think we don't reflect as much as we should.  Resolutions should be based on reflections of ourselves.  We should look at who we are, what's important to us, and produce a resolution from there.  Reflect on who you were last year, what you stood for, what you did to improve the world, what mattered/mattered little to you...then make an action plan.

Well, I'm pretty pleased with my 2012 resolution, "Be more social outside my house."  I really like spending time with my roommates so I had gotten into somewhat of a rut just staying home all the time because I didn't need to leave home to be social.  So in 2012 I made it a point to go out more with friends and make more friends.  I went to bars (still not a fan), house shows (big fan), we hosted parties at our house, and went to conversation groups (a group of people that get together to speak in a certain language, in this case Spanish).  So I'm feeling pretty optimistic about this year's resolutions.

1) Gym.  I know, I know, it's soo cliche, but hear me out.  I do like going to the gym; well, I like being at the gym.  Getting to the gym is a challenge for me, I easily talk myself out of going.  To say "Go to the gym more" or "Lose weight" is a time and tested way to get me to do nothing.  But, when you make a specific goal, it's more attainable.  My goal?  Go to the gym no less than 4 times a week.  Sometimes I do a really great job of that, sometimes laziness wins.  But, by setting this goal, and being intentional, the side-effects of the frequent gym visits will come into fruition.

2) Music.  I really miss making music.  There's never been a time when I made music for music's sake.  I was always preparing for a concert or recital, I was never just playing to play.  But I really want to; I want to be that musician who just plays because they love it.  I want to learn to love playing for my sake and not for the ensemble I'm in.  My resolution is to play a wind instrument (I have bass clarinets, a clarinet, and recorders) at least once a week, and a non-wind instrument (guitar, ukulele, and piano) at least once a week.  Initially, I won't be able to play very long, especially for the wind instruments, I have to rebuild my chops (mouth muscles) back up to be able to play for more than a few minutes at a time.  Ugh, I did that to myself.  And same for my fingers, getting them reconditioned and re-accustomed to the strings and piano keys.  I've also found a couple phone apps that are for aural skills.  I've always struggled aurally, but I really want to get better.  It makes for a better musician.  I want to practice just a little each night right before bed; just for like five minutes.  I want to be better and learn to play for music's sake...so I'm taking steps to make that happen.

Those are my primary New Year's Resolutions.  I do have I couple other things that I'd like to do, like read more (recent) fiction and speak up more when my feelings are hurt (instead of retreating to my room, hurt) and trying more recipes.  But these are on the back-burner and I'm not really putting a lot of energy into those.  What are yours?  What are you doing to make them actually happen?  Let me know how it goes and here we go!