It's that time of year. No, not as Karen Carpenter alludes, when the world falls in love and every some you hear seems to say, "Merry Christmas." It's New Year's resolution time.
Resolution. Resolute (according to dictionary.com) means "determined on an action or result."
There was once a British exploration ship - the HMS Resolute. So the Resolute was floating up in the arctic in 1854 when she became stuck in the ice. So the crew just shimmied down the sides (literary license taken for effect) and walked away, later picked up by another ship. An American crew found the Resolute and the United States government refurbished the ship, returning her to England as a goodwill gesture (remember this was during the Civil War, when making nice with the Brits didn't hurt the Union one bit). Once the ship was too old for real service, Queen Victoria had it dismantled and (at least) two desks were made from it -- called the Resolute desks. One sits in Buckingham Palace; the other sits in the Oval Office*.
Last year I set 7 goals. Let us focus on what I did do.
1. I took the GRE and did pretty well.
2. I exercised much more. I ran two official 5Ks.
3. I took a hip hop class and an archery class.
I'm quite happy with the things I did. I'm disappointed about the others. Not disappointed necessarily that I didn't experience them after all, but disappointed that I set them as goals. There are lots of reasons why a person wouldn't reach a goal (it's unreachable, she is lazy, she has no support). For me, I think it was that I didn't really want the others. I'll set better goals for 2011.
I'm resolute. I really intend to do the following. No namby-pamby goals for me. And here's what I'm determined to do.
1. Take community classes for weightlifting and auto mechanics.
2. Run half-marathon.
3. Buy only things I need and really want, no matter what the sale.
4. Pay off student loan.
5. Finish the long sought-after goal of attending all Utah temples. Really resolute this time.
