I know New Year’s resolutions lead to nothing but failure and disappointment. I know January 21st or thereabouts is labeled as the most depressing day of the year, as we humans face the reality that the resolutions won’t stick, that this year we’re bound to repeat the same mistakes as the year before, and the year before, and the year before. Most of us will never accomplish our dreams; we have neither the drive nor the discipline. I know. Resolutions only serve to highlight the defeat.

Still. I’ve a pretty good feeling about 2008.

I’ve decided on two resolutions. Okay, maybe three – two solid ones and one more vague and hard to touch. So mostly I’ll talk about the first two.

The first resolution is inspired by my husband. For Christmas he gave me the most incredible gift – he took my blog and photos and published a book of Louison’s life. It’s great to see all that writing I did during Louison’s first year materialize into something tangible. Not just thoughts in the wind, but a record of his life that we can hold in our hands. There are so many things we would have otherwise forgotten, that this gift has motivated me to keep going. 2007 have been a poor year for writing. In 2008 I aspire to write every day. Undoubtedly I won’t publish all of it on this blog, but I will write. Hopefully much of it will find its way here to my family and friends.

For my second resolution, I join millions of Americans in my efforts to eat right and get in shape! Can I do it? I’ve devised a diet plan that looks like this:

Breakfast: 2 waffles, maple syrup, 1 fruit, tea with honey (approx. 400 calories)

Lunch :salad with ham, eggs, vegetables, croutons, homemade vinaigrette, tea with honey (approx. 400 calories)

Snack: varies (try to stay healthy and under 200 calories)

Dinner: sensible and vegetable based (400 calories)

To add to that, I’m committing to a daily walk of at least 30 minutes, and yoga. I need aerobic exercise, but back problems and two months in France forced me to cut off my last program. I need to find a low impact sport, and I haven’t found one I enjoy yet.

With a goal of losing a pound a week, I should be done in ten weeks. In theory, this is possible. I’m not over weight - I’m actually on the thin side. But it does bother me to see my weight creep up year after year, with that feeling that I’m losing control over my body.

Once I reach my goal weight, I think I can easily maintain my weight by cutting out the snacking and exercising regularly. I’ll keep you updated on my progress.

My third goal is of a spiritual nature, and thus hard to explain. 2008 is the year I become a confirmed Catholic, and surely I could point to that as something concrete. But in the abstract, there is the deeper and continuing experience of sanctification. I need a deeper sense of myself in the whole – past, present, and future. The past, I feel, needs to come full circle. As it turns out, I’m glad I’m here, in my home town. There was a time when I couldn’t imagine saying that – for years, and up until very recently, I only wanted to get the heck out. But now, I think it is better to be here - there are things to take care of, and ends to tie up, before I go.

That is my tall order for 2008. But as I said, something does seem different this year. Perhaps, because all of these resolutions have come about as a slow personal evolution -I don’t view them as personal deprivation/punishment. The changes are really only symbolically tied to the New Year.

But I’ll let you know, around January 21st, if my lenses are still so rosy.

Bonne année à vous trois, et je suivrai attentivement tes progrès, enfin ceux qui se verront en nombres de messages ici et en nombre de kilos sur la balance alors ! ;-)
Même genre de résolutions côté poids pour moi, d'ailleurs, même si je ne me chiffre aucun objectif (une livre par semaine, c'est beaucoup, non ?), plutôt un désir de retrouver une silhouette plus conforme à mon image corporelle ;-)

One pound per week might be too ambitious. One pound equals 3500 calories, so if I cut 600 a day, it should work. But, everyone has a different caloric need, and I suspect mine might be less than the standard 2000 calories/day. It may take longer.