Tuesday 12 January 2010

Let It Not Be Resolved


I stopped doing New Years resolutions a few years ago. Too much pressure. Too much guilt if/when I didn't manage to follow through 100% 24/7.

That doesn't mean I don't love the start of a new year for starting new habits, I do. I love the feeling of a clean slate, the idea that anything is possible, that the year is new and unwritten and you can make it into anything you want.

So while I don't make resolutions any more, I do think about what I want to do with the year and I make goals.

And this year, I also started doing things on the 1st. And I'm going to try doing them every day.

I'm not going to think about HAVING to do them for an entire year, because that will just freak me out. (See: Nablopomo) (Also, I could never have started this blog if I told myself I HAD to post almost every day for the next four years, no way!) And I'm not going to think about how hard it might be to do them every day no matter what, I'm just going to see what happens and do my best. And I won't beat myself up if I don't manage, I'll just celebrate when I do well.

I need to stop talking about this now. I feel like I'm getting all anxious and that wasn't really the point of this post.

Excuse me, must go breathe into a paper bag now.

*Breathing*

OK. So, here's the deal. I'm going to try to take a photo every day. And, no, I can't think about *actually* doing it for 365 days, no no no.

So far it's been ok. I've taken some photos I don't really like and I've taken a couple I do. I think in my head I thought it would be this grand, somewhat romantic, artistic thing, and so far it's been more of a "Hmmm, I have to do this and it's the end of the day, what can I find in my apartment to shoot?" kind of thing and I'm not enjoying it. Not loving it.

But I'll do it for a while, I'll give it the forty or so days they say it takes to make a new habit and I won't be mean to myself. That's the most important part for me. I won't beat myself up about it or at least, I'll work on not doing that.

So, yeah, there you have it. I'm going to try to take a photo every day. Or, more to the point, take a bunch of photos every day and find one good enough to post to flickr. I'm not really sure how it's going to go, and I'm not sure I can do it perfectly, or if I'll even want to keep doing it for 365 days but I'll see how it goes and . . . yeah, we'll see how it goes.

Ok. Back to paper bag breathing for me. Gotta go.

5 comments:

Julie said...

haha I'm with you on this one. I didn't make any specific resolutions, and it's kinda liberating to be honest!

Dominic said...

I never make resolutions either. The last few years in particular, I've been so glad to see the back of the old year I never want to spoil the new one with such things :)

Victoria said...

Julie, it really is. The specificity of "I will never again." or "I will always." freak me out. :)

Fair enough Dominic :)

Stephanie Hunter said...

I thought about doing the one picture a day thing too.... But I'm behind. Or do you think I could just make up for the fact that I did go on vacation and have taken enough pictures to get me through January?
~Fellow Blogger

Victoria said...

I've been thinking about this Stephanie, and I think that if I do get behind (which I'm thinking might just happen) I'll just start again when I can. Like, let's say I got to day 45, but then couldn't take a picture, well then the next one would be 46 out of 365, so maybe I wouldn't fit it in exactly in one year, but I'd still do it, know what I mean?

Or, totally give yourself the slack and know you've taken enough pictures to get through January! :)