New Year's resolutions are, I guess, a secular version of Lent, though without Easter to look forward to. I've never given much attention to this observance, but I like Lent, and I like new beginnings, so coming up with a few resolutions might be fun.
To those who know what a bookworm I am, resolving to read more books in 2010 will appear about as useful and as difficult as resolving to eat more chocolate or drink more tea. However, despite being an unemployed "empty nester," I've discovered to my shock that I'm now reading fewer books than ever before. I listen to audio books in the car as I run errands; I read blogs, articles, and news stories online; I skim magazines. I read books in five-minute gulps as I can throughout the day—on visits to the "reading room," while eating, while falling asleep at night. But I hardly ever read, i.e. concentrate on a single book for an extended period of time, which is the only way to absorb a book of any substance. I write much more than I used to, and I spend a whole lot of time researching, but to my shock it will apparently take a deliberate determination to once again be able to call myself a reader.
Adopting the management maxim, "What gets measured gets done," and stealing my sister-in-law's idea, I'm creating a page on which to document the books I read this year—see "Books Read" under Links/Personal, in the panel to the right. If I also write about them, I'll include a link to the review as well. And maybe a rating, if I'm feeling ambitious.
I used to love making New Year's resolutions. Maybe forgetting about resolutions this year (or last year?) is simply a sad sign that I'm not as eager to improve as I used to be, but oddly enough I thought of a habit a few days after the roll over that I just so happened to have started on the 1st. I made myself a Tickler filing system in one of my much-more-frequent-than-annual attempts to get the paper piles organized. I had never heard of the Tickler system before, but I decided to make one with a folder for each day and one for each month (43 folders). I'm still skeptical, but currently I am enjoying the experience of papers magically disappearing into folders and only popping out when they need to be dealt with. Even a photo you're not sure what to do with can be put into a folder of a later date so you can be pleasantly reminded of happy things when you pull up the folder of all you need to do that day. I've checked it for nine days now . . .
Gambate! May it continue to work well for you.
And I should point out that you did make resolutions last year—several really big ones to last for all your remaining New Years, wrapped up in a grand and glorious celebration. :)
Excerpt: Resolution #1, Read More Books, was by far the most successful of the dozen I developed throughout 2010. I read 65 books in the year: fiction and non-fiction, from children's lit to an 800-page survey of ancient history. This is a mar...
Weblog: Lift Up Your Hearts!
Date: January 8, 2011, 9:30 pm
Excerpt: Not that we're anywhere near January 1, but I seem to have begun a habit of making a new resolution on the 8th of the month, so why not? If you look at the three I've made so far, it does seem as if I'm working on a book entitled, 12 Joyful Resolu...
Weblog: Lift Up Your Hearts!
Date: March 8, 2010, 9:33 pm
Excerpt: Having made my first New Year's resolution on January 8, it is fitting that I add my second today. At first glance, resolving to rediscover feasting sounds about as painful as resolving to read more books, but bear with me a moment. There's a...
Weblog: Lift Up Your Hearts!
Date: February 8, 2010, 5:20 pm
