Promises are the uniquely human way of ordering the future, making it predictable and reliable to the extent that this is humanly possible. ~ Hannah Arendt
And because resolutions are like totally so 2015.
While I’m really happy with last year’s resolutions and how I tackled them, I wondered about what I would do for this year.
Randomly I decided to google “resolution definition” to find:
res·o·lu·tion
rezəˈlo͞oSH(ə)n/
noun– a firm decision to do or not to do something.
“she kept her resolution not to see Anne any more”
Then intuitively I googled “promise definition” and found:
prom·ise
ˈpräməs
noun– a declaration or assurance that one will do a particular thing or that a particular thing will happen.
“what happened to all those firm promises of support?”
Last year I used these terms interchangeably, but now I see a difference. A resolution is a firm decision, but not unbreakable. I want to make myself assurances that particular things will happen. Like Hannah says, I want to order my future and make it predictable and reliable as much as I can. OCD much? Decidedly so, it’s kind of my way.
Here are my promises to myself this year, they are slightly more vague than last years resolutions but I prefer it that way.
- Create more – Whether it’s cooking, drawing, painting, photography, writing etc. I want to get back to making things. Making something tangible and lasting, being able to see it or use it makes my every day more wonderful. It’s a stupid laugh everyday. It’s easy to criticize other people’s creations but far harder to take the risk to create, be honest, and put things out into the world.
- Be strong – In all ways possible, while I still can. Last year I found a lot of joy in activities that made me feel strong and in control. I traveled on two monster vacations by myself, sky dived, flew a plane, rafted two days down a river, hiked up several ridiculous hills, biked 36 miles on hilly roads in Costa Rica, ran my 4th half marathon and learned to swim. I felt invigorated doing these things, and decided I will no longer let fear make decisions for me. Ok and I really also want to take Krav Maga, so I can literally kick ass.
I really liked The Pleasure & the Pain about Ultra Marathon running along the Bay Area Ridge Trail because it captured the spirit of feeling strong mentally and physically and being able to sync those up which I mentioned feeling during my Nike Half Marathon of 2014, “I need to finish it to know that I still have it”.
Strength is beating the shit out of a punching bag.
- Change my narrative – You see a slice of who you think I am daily, but humans are complex, dynamic, and shades of gray (I hate how 50 Shades has totally ruined the connotation of that descriptor, but it’s true). I’m going to be more honest if that’s possible, open and show people who I really am and let it all hang out this year.
- Accepting things from others – Those closest to me know that I struggle with this. While I am very generous with my time and money, I’m super weird about getting gifts and receiving help. This is generally why I would rather we just not do the gifting situation all together. But what I’ve finally started to realize is that we all show our love in different ways, and sometimes taking something from someone is accepting their love and care, no matter how much it makes me feel uncomfortable. UGH the struggle is real guyz.
- Simplify – Whether this means people, things, process, or lifestyle, I want to make things easier for myself and clear out the cruft in my mind, spirit, and soul.
- Seek out inspiration – Travel did this for me last year, but I know there’s more to it than just taking a vacation escape every time I need a refresher. I need to find it more in the dailies with people, places, books, museums, activities, etc. I will surround myself with the all the things that make me smile.
Eating creativity is food for the soul.
This is inspiration.
These are the promises I am making to myself in 2016, and I will keep them.
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