… and it still holds ground at the start of 2022.
“Oh please, here we go! Another New Year’s resolution blah blah blah, “ we hear you say.
Most of us had every intention to make a manageable list and then sit with a truck load of regret, shame, and despondency as each one was promptly broken by the afternoon of January the 1st. Some of us just can’t be bothered and have made the breaking of New Year’s resolutions an art.
First up, easy does it. Don’t be so hard on yourself and also don’t think for a moment you’re the only one this happens to. You’re human, not a conveyer belt of good intentions.
Henry David Thoreau was a wise guy. Literally, a clever chap. We’re gifting you this quote from HDT’s book titled, Walden. And it’s gold:
“Our life is frittered away by detail. An honest man has hardly need to count more than his ten fingers, or in extreme cases, he may add his ten toes and lump the rest. Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumbnail.”
And there it is: keep your accounts on your thumbnail. It can mean literal accounts of the cash variety, your to-do list, or a genuinely honest attempt at making a resolution and sticking to it. So, you see, it IS about quantity after all. Keep it at the minimum. Set out to do a single thing; even two well-intentioned entries could be too overwhelming and eventually unmanageable. The trick is to make a start. Simply put one foot in front of the other and let your stress levels out the front gate.
If your NY resolution is quite daunting or cumbersome, like spring cleaning the garage, divide your day in quarters instead of watching the clock – start with dusting off the rows of empty-ish paint tins and recycling the others, like that avocado green for the baby room … that baby is currently a grumpy teenager that wears his/her black hoodie like a uniform and you can’t get a gap to chuck it in the washing machine. In the recycling, it goes! The old paint tins, not the hoodie, for goodness’ sake! You don’t want The Revenge of the Teenagers playing at a home address near you.
We digress. Before dusk settles, that NY resolution has been done and literally, dusted. And that’s because you kept your affairs on your thumbnail. And didn’t feel overwhelmed.
Take that 2022!
