The new year is arriving and it’s that time of year when people like to make resolutions for the coming year. I’m really not a resolution person myself, I just think it’s stupid to make a resolution for the sake of making a resolution, which resolution you manage to keep for less than the first month of the new year. Really, if you’re going to decide to do something, commit to it, and do it, regardless of the time of year.
That said, I find that January is a great time to evaluate progress and make some goals. Resolutions, not necessarily, but goals, definitely. I look at it this way, I can resolve to kiss my husband every time he walks in the front door and when I break that resolution I’m done- with 3 kids I’m probably breaking that resolution sometime in the first week since I can’t just stand there at the door and wait for him to come through it. But with a goal I allow myself more space to create areas of growth.
Spending more time with my husband this year is a good goal since I’m struggling to find the balance of marriage and kids since the arrival of my third. Goals are less easily laid aside because my goal is to spend more time with my husband or to better understand my husband this year. Or, put another way, I want to see our marriage strengthened. Now, within that goal, I/we can set up ways to accomplish this. Maybe that means both of us agreeing to kiss first thing when he gets home from work, or maybe that just doesn’t accomplish anything for either of us and we need to focus on something else.
But, just announcing a resolution without any real plans to back it up just seems like a waste of my time. So, my goal for New Year’s Eve, spend some time, while we’re waiting for the new year to arrive, planning and discussing our goals for this coming year. (no worries, I’ve had this evening planned for months, I’m fairly certain we can accomplish this, and if not we’ll do it some time soon…)