New Year's Resolutions

Here is my list of resolutions for 2008. Pretty much the same list that I've had the last few years.

1. Read more books.

2. Scrapbook more.

3. Exercise more.

4. Blog more (a new one for 2008).

5. Travel more.

6. Be better about remembering birthdays and anniversaries on time.

7. Learn more about the culture of India.

Not a terribly exciting list. My resolutions are more of goals than resolutions. I keep it pretty simple in order to actually accomplish these goals. Any improvement on the previous year is considered a success in my book. I don't understand why people make resolutions that they are just going to break in the first week. "Don't eat chocolate." Yeah right, like you are never going to eat chocolate again in your life. How about instead "eat less chocolate" or "only eat chocolate once per week."

Also, I feel that my resolutions can be added to at any point during the year. If you want to improve on something in your life, why wait until January 1 to start? If say for example I think of something that I want to do or improve in my life on November 21st, do I have to wait until January 1st to begin? No, just start whenever you think about it. I think most of us know the areas in our lives that need improvement, and I think it is silly to wait until a specific date to begin. Just do it now!

All of my above resolutions are pretty vague...I think I used the word "more" in about every one of them. However, in my head, I have quantified most of the resolutions. But once again, if I actually put in writing exactly how many books per month I would like to read, then it's just setting myself up for failure...and who wants that? Not me.

So, how did I come out on my resolutions for 2007? Well like I said, most of them are listed above. I have just renewed them for 2008. Overall, I would say that I did pretty good with my resolutions. At different points during the year, I was better with certain ones then with other ones. For example while living in Beijing, I was really good with the exercise one. However, moving to India that one sort of became a lot harder to do. No more built in gym where I lived, and no more nice sidewalks with places to walk to. However, on the other hand, after moving to India, my resolutions to read more and scrapbook more picked up. These things pretty much didn't happen at all while living in China. Average everything out for the year though, and I think I came out pretty good in the end.

So, good luck to everyone who made resolutions for 2008. I wish you well with achieving your goals. I have a feeling that 2008 will be another great year!