Resolve

Instead of resolutions, people in our family form themes. One year it was "I AM SUPPORTIVE OF YOUR ENDEAVOR", which was a great theme for everyone except me. But it was payment for everyone else being supportive of my (terrible, terrible) decisions leading up to that year, and that is how you balance the books to avoid being hit by a falling tree or a meteor.

Another year it was redouble my efforts, which was a good one because it made me a homeowner and got another book published. It did not, however, make me into an oiled bikini-clad bodybuilder, which is sort of what I was hoping for, but that is what happens when the thing you are redoubling is "getting up for snacks occasionally". 2x nearly-zero is still only slightly more than zero. I struggled on a chin-up bar and did 10-minute yoga a few times and called it a year.

Last year I forgot to set a theme, and society collapsed and everyone died and chickens took over the wasteland. Poor planning.

THIS YEAR, there will be a theme. When my mother asked what it should be, I told her, "running away to live alone in the snowy forests of Ontario with a bunch of sheep". This was not out of some sense of preparation for any hypothetical nuclear dystopia, but because I was in the middle of a domestic quarrel over a gross misuse of socks.

squad goals

She told me I can't do that yet, so what we should do instead is 'whatever it takes'. Whatever it takes to get back into that fancy dress from 8 years ago. Whatever it takes to carve out time to make art and read good books and knit things. Whatever it takes to do what is right for the people around us without becoming bitter, angry old assholes - starting with not running away to Ontario over an argument about socks, probably.

WHATEVER IT TAKES. Mark it, folks.