15 Comments

Great post - thanks, Mark! Well done on all of your accomplishments - fabulous work!

I don't make resolutions, but I take care of my intentions and goals as I go thanks to my journalling practice. It's liberating and unthreatening, and provides me with the comfort of not failing at something massive. (However modest, in my experience my NYRs elevate themselves to something massive just by giving them that NYR label!)

I resolved in summer 2019 to cook a roast every weekend to practise for Christmas that year, and that was fabulous. We've been having our 'Sunday roast' every Saturday night ever since. I resolved on Christmas Eve 2019 to read for pleasure every single day, which I hadn't done for YEARS, and I've kept that up. Those two things have brought me so much pleasure, and they've been very doable because they're part of my routine. There are plenty of other things which in the past I'd've labelled 'NYR' and failed at, but because they're part of my everyday journalling and life-management (!) practice, they're very achievable.

But NY resolutions? No thanks!

This NYE will be no different to our last many. A glass of Prosecco, a delicious meal, something good on the telly and to bed at bedtime. Yup, before midnight! JUST the way we like it! 🤣

Expand full comment

Happy New Year Mark!

Although I didn't have a goal, I read 4 1/2 books this year. The 1/2 book was the biography of James Patterson. I ran out of time, so I'll have to get the book out of the library again. You always think you have time and then you don't. :)

As far as your sugar intake, I always watch that but now I've broken that rule. Since I'm working now and my job is very fast paced, I need a soda with sugar to get me through the day. I get a free meal and water just wasn't cutting it.

It seems walking should be easy but we all procrastinate, either it's too hot or too cold.

I used to stay up all night for the ball drop on ABC. The last few years I have not. I'm way too tired to stay up for it now. I do record the event so I can watch it the next day. I don't watch the whole thing. I just fast forward to the ball drop and I'm done with it.

Expand full comment

Love the post - love the idea of 'goals' v. 'resolutions'. Allows forgivability for when they're not fully met. I have a few goals for this next year, but only a couple really matter: more writing, better taking-care-of-myself. As for NYE ... this year, my 16 y/o was off at a party with friends so for the first time it was just my wife, my 12 y/o son and me ... We had 'party food' - crisps, dips, veg sticks, cheeses, and some weird Waitrose prawns-in-filo-pastry things (which are actually really nice dipped in a sweet chili sauce) and watched a couple of movies before the big fireworks. And then to bed. Yawn. I know I'm 'supposed' to say that when we were younger it used to be so much more fun, but this works so well ... not to mention, we're dry and warm and not fighting a crowd. So, win-win!

Expand full comment

Last year I think my resolution was to “read more.” Vague, yes, but I did, in fact, read more books--slowly and thoughtfully. I tend to read mostly nonfiction, but I made sure to get into some fiction that caught my eye. More of the same this year!

We typically don’t do anything for NYE, but in the last ten years or so we’ve met two other couples for dinner a handful of times, usually at a Mexican restaurant and *always* early enough to be home by 8:00. What can I say--I like my sleep! We’re doing that again this year, so maybe it has become sort of a tradition.

Expand full comment

Those are nice goals! They feel achievable, not stupidly optimistic. I’m going to draw on that vibe.

Expand full comment

Hey, looks like a successful year to me!

Expand full comment

My New Year celebrations changed over the years, too. I'm currently in Florida with my brother, his wife, two of my three adult children and granddaughters. We'll be together at my son's, eat and party until about 7:00 (bath & bedtime for the little ones.) Then we'll continue the festivities at our rental house. Unfortunately, I never make it to midnight these days, but without Dick Clark it's just not the same. Happy New Year to you!!

Expand full comment