New Year’s Day: A to-do list
Anytime is a good time to do some self evaluation.
It’s good to check in and make yourself feel good about a year’s worth of accomplishments. Even if you’re down on yourself at the moment, if you dig deep you can make an inventory of some cool things you did in the past year.
(Now is not the time to berate yourself for those human mistakes).
Here’s a few I’m willing to share with strangers:
• Apologized for most of my big mistakes.
• Managed to not allow my personal hygiene to effect others.
• Flossed.
• Was patient in lines while Christmas shopping.
• We also rescued four lost and sad looking dogs and tracked down their owners. I think i still have dog hair in my couch cushions.
• Stopping on the side of road when we saw a motorist with car trouble. (Three who needed help, plus two who rudely said they already had made a cell phone call).
• Buying Christmas presents without needing to use my credit card. (The fact that I later had to use my charge card to pay for groceries and gas does not count).
• Managing to keep the same size in clothing this year (even if I have considered myself 10 pounds overweight for the past 10 years).
Then there are the things that you do every year but for which you forget to give yourself a pat on the back:
• Composting
• Picking up garbage on road trips when you take a break at rest stops.
• Listening to your friends when they need someone with whom to vent their problems.
• Getting the 10-year-old next door to put down the X-box and play outside.
The new year is also a time to make a list of things to accomplish in the new year. I usually write them in my journal so I can’t pretend I don’t know where the list is.
Goals should be reasonable. Things like eating more fiber, finding ways to have more fun (and enthusiasm) for my work, being more kind to the people I care about the most and telling people when I admire something that they did.