As my cat Moky lounges on my lap, I am pondering what to write in this particular blog post. I know what to write; I just don't know how to start. That is the primary reason my students give me after I assign an essay: "I don't know how to start it." Already, I'm digressing - trailing off the topic at hand. I'm sorry.
I was perusing the Internet today, reading headlines and researching information and names found in the news stories. Inevitably, I end up here because I almost always end my search with a blogger's post about the topic or the name or anything else of value in the news stories. After I sign in to the Blogger site, I feel a sense of writing even though I'm not immediately sure of what exactly I want to write.
During my news stories' paths, I often come across articles about New Year's resolutions. People from all different walks of life tell their readers what resolutions they've made. Some people provide resolution guidance or advice. Others proclaim they refuse to make any resolutions whatsoever. I am of the latter group although, occasionally, I try to make a resolution or two from time to time.
In the end, my thoughts progress to not making any resolutions because I know, from experience, that I will break them, and I do not like breaking promises, even if those promises are to myself. What does that make me (besides a passenger in the same boat as almost everybody else)? That makes me anti-resolutional. I'm well aware of the fact that anti-resolutional is not even a word; maybe it should be. That word conjures thoughts of rebellion because I am refusing to make resolutions; I am making a stand against resolutions (I know, circular reasoning).
Originally, I thought about what resolutions I could make, and, at one point, I was nearly sure I would be able to pull off the deed without struggling with it. However, as is my MO, I weighed the pros and cons of the promise, and I surmised that my life would be better if I made no promises whatsoever.
This is how my new year pans out, at least for the first month, anyway: I want to enjoy the last vestiges of the previous year. I'm not ready to jump into new waters just yet; I like my comfort zone. I don't care what others have to say about hesitation or comfort zones, and I definitely don't need the guilt that comes with that advice.
By the time the second month of the year arrives, I'm ready to make some changes, but they are not the resolutions I gave some thought to at the beginning of the year (or at the end of the previous year). Truthfully, I make resolutions at the end of almost every semester because, for me, it's a way to modify or revise what I did during the semester, and I am hoping that the revisions will help me in the upcoming semester. Those promises are usually kept, and if they aren't, it's because I rationalized them to death (really, isn't that what people do when they break their resolutions?).
One such resolution I made at the end of the fall 2012 semester was to eliminate my late-work rule. Last semester (as in previous semesters), I allowed late work. I gave an amnesty deadline (last call, of sorts, for the work my students put off until the very end). I also allowed my students to make-up one test they missed or to retake a test they scored poorly on (with the use of a test coupon). At the end of the fall 2012 semester, I was highly stressed. Some of that stress had to do with my rule, and some had to do with personal issues. Before heading out to meet with family and friends for the Christmas celebrations, I revised the spring 2013 writing syllabus so that all work had to be turned in on the due dates and all tests had to be taken on the original test dates.
Going back to news stories for just a moment, newscasters were hyping up the flu epidemic, saying that the flu was widespread in 48 states. I don't know how I got home without getting sick if that is truly the case; I mean, I drove through half of the US and arrived home unscathed. That, right there, should help me instill my new rule on assignments and testing, right? I did my homework (excuse the pun) and read all about the flu that's plaguing the US. Most articles regard getting a flu shot and what to do when the flu hits. One article I found was about why people should not get the flu shot and should not take medicine to take the fever away. That was a very good article, and the writer had solid points to make about his topic (I have no idea what the article's title is or who the author was, but I'm sure I could find it on the Internet if I had to). Most people are oblivious to the fact that a fever is the body's way to rid the body of infections. They don't know that when they take medicine to get rid of the fever, they are actually welcoming the infection, and that infection will spread because it won't have to contend with the fever, which would destroy it.
Have I veered off the path of anti-resolutionalism? I think I have to wander a bit to bring myself back to the topic. With wandering comes thought, and with thought comes realization.
When people make resolutions, do they do it for themselves or for others (or for society)? Most people would say they are making resolutions for themselves, but I think that is not the case at all. I think, subconsciously, people are making resolutions to please others (to please societal norms). If I have something I need to change in my life, and if nobody else knows about it, then I'm changing for myself, not for others. However, if I need to change something that others know about, on the outside, I think I'm doing it for myself, but on the inside, I'm really doing it to show other people that I made the change (usually a positive change). Generally, people should not give a rat's whisker what another person thinks about them; however, in reality, people live their lives trying to please others. Human nature seeks approval and praise from others. Otherwise, social media wouldn't exist.
Back to my anti-resolutional thinking, I am rebelling to what society demands. What does society demand? It demands that I live my life like everybody else's. It demands that I reside within the norms - to the best of my abilities and capabilities. I'm not saying that everybody does live the "normal" life; the world is full of other norms that don't fit the so-called (societal) norm. The other norms are equally good. The other norms occur because people are different. Some people cannot fit into any one norm, and that is perfectly fine. Some people have to make their own norms because it is impossible to fit into the societal norm. That is also perfectly fine. [The more I write the word norm, the more I think of any Cheers episode where Norm walks into the bar, and everybody there shouts, "NORM!" lol Is Norm the norm?]
Therefore, this anti-resolutional me declares no resolutions for the year of 2013. That does not mean I will not change (this change is to be regarded as positive); that only means that I am not setting time periods for change. When (or if) those changes occur this year, I will be happy. If no change occurs, I will still be happy. In the words from a song by the Indigo Girls, "The only thing that stays the same is change."
