Arbitrary Restart

I'm a bit dubious of New Year's Resolutions. It's a great tradition and all, but it seems a bit callow to make a bunch of 180 degree turns in your personality and mannerisms just because of specific date on a calendar.

That said, I always make a couple. I guess I'm hopeful that some strange twist of fate or alignment of the stars will actually enable me to make things stick this time around--to help me make the changes that I'm apparently incapable of making on my own at any point in the year.

I like to leave my New Year's Resolutions kind of loose, so if I fail, it will be harder to pin it down as an absolute miss of the mark. I don't like to Resolve to lose 15 lbs. I prefer to say that I'll get in better shape. Nor will I say "I will no longer eat candy and consistently od on sugars." Rather, I say "I'll eat more healthfully."

This year I abandoned that tack, for the most part. I have made the obligatory promises to treat my body better--to exercise more and eat more veggies and whatnot--I would feel that I was letting down the Gods of Tradition if I left those out. But I have also made the following, quantitative, resolutions:

I will log, whether on foot or on bike (or swimming if it comes up), 60 miles a month. Sounds like a lot, but it's a paltry amount, really--and sadly more than I've managed to accumulate in recent memory. And I'm not talking about the distant that might be racked up in my numerous trips to see if anything nommable has suddenly appeared in the fridge. I'm talking about purposeful travel. Walking the dogs, hiking, going for a bike ride. Actual exercise.

I also originally thought that I might resolve to write three times a week here. But that seems, really, to be setting myself (and you?) up for disappointment. Once a week seems a better goal, given my propensity for getting wildly distracted and then overwhelmed with my own thoughts to the point of speechlessness.

Yes. Two *real* resolutions. I think it's about all I can handle. And so far I've done fairly well with them. I've logged 11.5 miles this year so far (so I can sit on my butt for a couple now??), and have written twice in three days.

And now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go play on the computer for the next 35 minutes so I can shut it down by 8pm. (It's another unspoken goal I've given myself, but I'm pretty sure it won't last, so I'm not going to mention it now.) Getting a full night of sleep has proven quite satisfying to me for the past couple nights, although I'm not sure what the dogs or the man make of me waking up before 6am on my own.