In spite of all my very best intentions to avoid committing to any kind of resolutions or goals for this new year, my innate inner control freak got the best of me and by 8 AM on the second day of this new year, I found myself hunched over my desk, almost out of coffee, and feverishly resolving to find a way to make resolutions different this year. Because I am a big believer in serendipity – and because I love nothing more than to avoid doing whatever task I'm meant to be working on – after five stressful minutes of arguing with myself, I decided to take a break and check my personal email. (In my defense, it was a very quiet day in the office and I wasn't breaking any rules, so stop shaming me!)
A quick perusal of my Gmail inbox showed me the usual flurry of unread messages from every airline I've ever flown on; some LinkedIn updates; a bunch of retail coupons for stores I don't frequently patronize; and an email from my good friend and sometimes co-conspirator and colleague. What a relief! I wouldn't be forced to help someone solve their problems or locate a policy or even think about my own non-resolutions. I had an email! I could read it! Hooray for distractions! The email itself was brief – under 25 words – but contained a link to a blog I'd not seen before. And more importantly, the ten minutes I spent reading this blog just may have saved me from repeating my prior resolution mistakes. You can check out the blog that changed the entire course of my day here.
The blog post I read – in case you aren't inclined to check it out – encouraged me and other readers to "skip [your] annual resolutions and do something different . . . set a yearly theme. A yearly theme can be a word or a phrase that you choose to define what the next year of your life is going to be. It is an idea that should speak to you and that should guide you to make more of the choices you think will lead you where you want to go . . ." Knock me over with a feather – that's exactly the kind of sage advice I needed to hear. Thank you, dear friend, for the email. Thank you, blogger Kate Stull, for giving me permission to give up on the idea of resolutions and to resolve to make 2015 different. Because I am nothing if not a creature of habit, my gut instinct after reading this excellent blog was to add an item to my "should" list, as in, "I should totally come up with a theme for the year." Since I was already plotting ways to skip my "should" cardio workout after work, this didn't seem like a terribly smart approach – and my phone was ringing and my work email was blowing up so I decided to do what I do best by putting this off until later.
Fast forward a couple of hours. Work is eerily quiet. I've caught up on anything and everything I can do in the present moment, so I decide to heat up my lunch. While I'm prepping my lunch, I can't help but reflect on what I read earlier, and suddenly, I'm obsessed. I must have a theme for 2015! And I want it NOW. Thus, I decide to multitask, eating my husband's famous low sodium turkey chili while simultaneously brainstorming a theme that truly encompasses everything I want life to be in 2015. Because I'm a self-proclaimed princess, my theme needs to be regal, clever, inspiring and not even a tiny bit cheesy, since I'm pretty sure I'm lactose intolerant when it comes to yearly themes and mottos. I think about my very bad habit of shoulding all over myself. I reflect on every failed resolution I've ever made. I wrack my brains. I even Google.
As I take my last bite of lunch, I hit the Google jackpot when I stumble upon this quote: You've got three choices in life – Give up, give in, or give it all you've got. For once, I'm speechless. I don't know why or how this quote (for whom I cannot seem to find an author, which is a shame) resonates so strongly with me, but why is hardly what's important. I have my theme!
I dutifully print it out and post my 2015 theme prominently in my cubicle, where I hope it will act as a compass, guiding me to make the right choices. You won't believe what happens next . . .
© 2015 Princess D
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