Word

Funny word, resolution: does not get mentioned for about 355 days of the year, then it’s all the rage for the last few days of December. Resolution hangs out with a few close friends – fruitcake, tinsel, and Auld Lang Syne. If you’re known by the company you keep, Resolution produces discomfort, is tacky, and maudlin. GRRRREAT!

Let’s consider that old traditional idea of resolution, that vow to one’s self to make some life change(s) at the start of a new year. Well, it seems a lot of us make re-resolutions. We will lose weight, we will get rich, we will learn tae kwon do, we will go to church, we will be nicer to our neighbors, we will take French lessons, we will try out for Jeopardy, we will . . . We’ve made some of these at least as many times as the years we are beyond legal drinking age – and with similar (non)results.

Einstein said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. I would have to infer from this statement that the making of New Year’s resolutions is clear and irrefutable evidence that most of us are, at least a little, insane. Upon further consideration, I find this communal craziness comforting – misery does love company. I also find comfort that, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds and years of unsatisfying outcomes against us, we continue to try – even if it only lasts until the trial gym membership runs out – to become better selves.

In the spirit of insanity and hope (is that redundant,) I resolve to be a happier person in 2011. I will appreciate all the good in my life, let go of the things that make me sad or angry, and I will be gentler to myself for failing to keep this resolution perfectly.

Happy New Year!