This time of year, I’m always focused on what I want to accomplish next year. The list is always fairly lengthy. I won’t get to everything, but I will complete some things. As I get older, I find that accomplishing some things is more than enough. The things I don’t get done will shift to the following year’s list, and life will go on.
Patience is one of life’s great lessons. I haven’t mastered it, but I am learning to embrace it. I’m also learning how to let things go. This year, I plan to carry over my list of anti-resolutions. Remember these?
Stop showing and telling everything to everyone.
Stop comparing yourself to others.
Stop worrying about what others think of you.
Stop waiting.
Stop doubting.
Stop being a stranger.
Stop feeling sorry for yourself.
Stop standing in your own way.
Stop feeling guilty.
Stop thinking money creates value.
Stop feeling obligated.
Stop saying yes all the time
Stop thinking everything is a competition.
Stop trying to be like everyone else.
Stop thinking you have to get it right on the first try.
I’ve discovered that the list of things I plan to stop doing is the very definition of a work in progress. Some days I’m better at them than others.
In 2018, I’m giving myself a different kind of gift: permission to give up.
Not writing, or my day job, or anything important. But the time has come for me to put some conscious effort into quitting things that do not make me feel good.
Almost seven years ago, I quit smoking. Now, just because I list that here, don’t think for one minute I didn’t love smoking. I did. I just didn’t like the way smoking made me feel. So, I screwed up my determination and quit.
This year, I plan to give up some other things that don’t make me feel good. The first I plan to attack will be my social media habit.
No, I won’t be disappearing entirely, but I will be limiting the time I spend absorbing other people’s thoughts and opinions.
I will be around to post pictures and chat about life in general, but I’m going to start sticking to topics of polite conversation: the weather, health, and…books.
How about you? Do you plan to be a quitter in 2018? What baggage will you be ditching?
Hey, nice looking blog you’ve got here, lady! Good job, and good for you with the ‘giving up’ attitude. I’ve found that getting older works the same magic as sleeping with the zucchini. It’s just easier to accept that not everything needs to get done – at least not immediately. There’s always the next day, next week, next year…because the truly important stuff does manage to be completed. It’s just the rest that falls by the way.
I think the number thing I need to quit is doubting myself. Thinking things are too much for me to handle. No more making excuses! I see big things–WOW things–happening for both of us next year, baby! xo