New “Month” Resolutions

If you’re like most people, every January it’s the same old story…you make “New Year’s Resolutions” & vow to do things like lose weight, stop smoking, exercise more, drink less, etc. Maybe you even get a little creative and resolve to pay off a debt, start recycling, go back to school, get a better job, or just be nicer to your neighbors. No matter what your resolution is, chances are you probably never actually accomplish it.

That’s why I changed my approach to “New Year’s Resolutions” a few years ago, and now I focus on “New Month Resolutions” instead. After all, why do you think most people don’t achieve their resolution goals? Because we give up after a few weeks when it has become inconvenient, difficult, or maybe even impossible, to accomplish the original goal.

So now I work on twelve different goals each year: some simple…like reconnecting with old friends (January) or organizing my receipts & getting my taxes done (March), and some more difficult…like updating my resume (February) or getting ready for swimsuit season (April). But no matter what the goal is, it’s a little bit easier knowing I only have to concentrate on one thing at a time. And once I accomplish the goal, it’s easier to make the action a routine or a habit.

I haven’t quite finished getting my tax receipts to the CPA (I still have 10 days left this month!!), but I am doing better at keeping up with old friends. I took some great trips with old friends in January and have sent several cards & made a few phone calls to others recently. Now it’s highly possible that the April resolution may get moved to May (after all, the pool doesn’t open till Memorial Day anyway…what’s the rush, right?), but if so, I’m sure I’ll come up with something else to accomplish next month.  And now that it’s in writing (by the way, starting a blog was also one of my resolutions for March), I’m giving you permission to hold me accountable for the next 8 months!

If you’re one of those who can set a New Year’s Resolution and make it work for twelve months, congratulations! Let me know how you do it. And if you can’t, try a New Month Resolution in April, and let me know how that works out too!

Famous Last Words

Have you ever thought about the last conversation you had with someone you loved? Did you gossip together? Did you argue? Did you rush through your conversation? Did you say “I love you?”

Unless you never had another chance to speak to that person, you may not remember the answers to these questions,. If you were fortunate enough to have a chance to say “goodbye” to a loved one, then you probably do remember your last talk. But if you lost someone suddenly, you may not.

It’s been almost 10 years since the sudden, unexpected death of my older sister. I barely remember our last conversation – it was “generic” at best. I’ve re-lived my conversations with her and others  who have passed suddenly, but it’s always the same… “What was the last thing we said?”

I was reminded of this last week when a friend died suddenly and I perused through her recent Facebook postings. There were no “re-post this if you agree…” or “my boss gets on my nerves” or “I have a headache” posts. Instead, there was a YouTube video of “How Great Thou Art” by Carrie Underwood and loving photos of her first grandchild, only a few months old.

Just as we should all pay more attention to our conversations with those we love, we should also think twice before we post on Facebook or Twitter…what if this is the last thing people hear from me? Is this how I want to be remembered?

What will YOUR “famous last words” be? They may not go down in history as a quote from someone famous, but they just might be something a loved one can hold on to for a lifetime.

With my sister, Cathy, the night I was crowned Miss Greenville)