New Years Resolutions You Can't Live Without

[Daniel E.]

New Years Resolutions You Can't Live Without
Psychology Today blog: People Skills
by Marcia Eckerd, Ph.D.

I realize that New Year's resolutions are (a) lame, (b) forgotten by February and (c) something real people don't do. In the spirit of enduring hopefulness despite all odds, here are New Year's resolutions that I have every intention of trying to keep:

1. I will put my needs ahead of the dog's.
2. I will be realistic about how much time things really take, and not over-schedule myself no matter what.
3. I will practice saying "NO" and actually say it when asked to do something I don't have time for or choose not to do, even when it's my boss, my child or my spouse. (I will also accept the fallout.)
4. When tempted to fix something that isn't mine to fix, I will repeat my mantra: "No one died and made me boss."
5. When I have work to do, I will not discover the million other things that need doing.
6. I will remember that I don't have to like everyone and they don't have to like me.
7. I will not act the age of my children no matter what the provocation.
8. I will accept the fact that my young adult daughter is on her own life path with bumps and challenges that I can't prevent.
9. I will get enough sleep.
10. In order to hang onto my sanity in the frantic pace of my life, I will make time for moments of peace and exercise as regularly as I can.
11. I will not beat myself up for being human, having limits and making mistakes.
12. I will remember that I love my spouse even when his priorities aren't the same as mine.
13. I will remember that my relatives have as much responsibility to make the family relationships work as I do.
14. I will remember that love and acceptance start at home.

Now, if I can do all this... 2010 would be the year I finally got it right.

Marcia Eckerd, Ph.D. is an attending faculty in the Department of Psychiatry at Norwalk Hospital.

 

[Daniel E.]

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