It’s that time of year again when we all put together a list of wildly outlandish unachievable ambitions that we will definitely complete in the following 365 days. This time of year is known by the general public as the time for “New Year’s Resolutions” and by the Gym owners as “harvest time”, and indeed I look forward to my annual charitable donation to our local gym and in return my yearly tour of the fitness facilities and the little membership card that assures a feeling of healthiness right up until the following Christmas. Indeed I have found being a gym member to be a most effective means of providing me with more sofa and TV time as I get to cut out all of that worry about actually staying fit.
Other past new year’s resolutions have ranged from the theoretically possible such as writing a play through to the never-going-to-happen such as go sky-diving. It’s not that I don’t want to do these things… well actually I really DON’T want to go Sky Diving to be fair… but somehow as with all half-hearted resolutions, life always seems to get in the way.
I certainly began writing a play and then two scenes in had an idea for another play which also now has approximately one and a half scenes, not to mention the third and fourth plays each of approximately 300 words. It seems that my resolution may not in fact have been to write a play but a slightly boring character building sketch show filled mostly with stage directions. It turns out that when you already run a business and write a blog on a daily basis, finding the time to write a play may be slightly over-ambitious, yet it’s still something I’m determined to do in the future.
Resolutions are not a bad thing to have and perhaps for some people they do really work. After all I have seen some people come out of a gym looking like they’ve done more than admire some distant dumbbells and having worked in theatre I’m pretty sure that over the years plays have in fact been written. But to get there it’s not about a few flimsy thoughts to start off the year, it takes real commitment to get to where you want to be and achieve all you want to achieve. There are many things I’d like to do, but the ones I really want to achieve I’m already striving for. I don’t know where the next year will take me but my resolution this year, if I have one, is to simply enjoy the ride. Goals are important but sometimes we get so caught up in trying to achieve them or dwelling on our failures that we forget to enjoy trying, and this year that is what I most want to avoid.
So when choosing your new year’s resolutions don’t choose something you think sounds good or that you’d vaguely like to do, choose something to which you can give an absolute commitment, even if it’s just a small step along the road. But above all make your resolution this:
2014 will be a brilliant, exciting year.
