Resolution – a firm decision to do or not to do something. If you make a resolution, you promise yourself to do something.

‘Main aur meri tanhaain aksar ye baatein karte hain’ are part of the lyrics from a popular Bollywood film song of the 1980s. It translates to ‘me and my solitude often have these conversations’. And that led me to realize, based on how I came up with my resolutions/goals for the past few years, that me and my resolutions often have these conversations as well; and those discussions simply stop mid-way, abruptly, leaving me and my resolutions confused, flabbergasted, flumoxxed, and ..you get the gist!

So here is hoping the new year in the new decade ensures I keep the resolution I made yesterday so the ones I list below today are followed through:)

The List

My resolutions for the year 20, in random order of difficulty/priority. And I realized I had made a pretty decent list in 2018 here, so this is almost a copy of that one.

1. Take one photo everyday – Make a conscious effort to observe, smell the roses and to capture the everyday through the eyes of the camera.
2. Write
   1. in my journal every day – just a line or two that highlight each day
   2. poems – one every week
   3. posts on my blog – everyday during UBCs; and at least three times during other months. (and more variety on the type of posts I need to start including this year)
   4. book reviews – that are overdue and for books that I read going forward promptly
3. Health Goals
   1. Eat Better: My weekly menu (when I used it) worked well for me, so need to get back to it. This is kind of a toughie when the family wants something different but it helps streamline the process so yes to it.
   2. Sleep Better: This is a duh, yes, but I need to consciously work on it.
   3. Hydrate: I am doing good here but just adding it so I don’t lose track of it. 
   4. Exercise: So, I fail at this miserably each year, and with age winning over my magic metabolism, I need to exercise more. 
      1. Walk towards 10k steps three times a week (this number is now reduced to much lesser but 10k sounds cool)
      2. Zumba twice a week (love dancing!)
      3. Yoga once a week
4. Complete 20 items from the 52 weeks, 52 list – need to start on this consciously – starting now
5. Volunteer – 
   1. at the shelter/soup-kitchen/other organizations – with both my kids in scouting, I do get more opportunities to do this, so will work on doing it more often this year. We did a few service projects last year through scouting and it was amazing. This year, hope to do a few by ourselves as well. 
   2. do a RAK(random act of kindness) every week – At every scouting Board of Review where we talk to the scouts to learn if they are ready to advance to the next rank, we ask them about their good turn for the day. And I love it that they unfailingly give an answer, which is spontaneous and honest (and if you are wondering what their answers are like – from helping a classmate with classwork or parents with a task at home to assisting a blind stranger across the street or helping someone carry their groceries). Each such occasion made me think about what my good turn for the day was; sometimes, sadly, I can’t think of anything. So this is a needed resolution.
6. Read – This is something I do invariably, but I want to add more diversity to my reading. And my reading challenges, will hopefully take care of my reading goals
7. Learn
   1. Learn a new word everyday and try to use it often. (Note to myself – Pick new words I can actually use)
   2. Complete a course (am working on this by enrolling in classes at the local community colleges so feeling good!)
      1. in something I love
      2. in something that will be useful (even if I don’t love it!)
   3. Start learning a new language – Need to do this as I set it for myself two years ago and never got around to it
   4. Learn one new skill (need to figure out what) and relearn an older, left-in-the-sidelines one (drawing and painting)
8. Work on our garden seriously (I am planning the specifics for this and last year’s successes – however small they were – have inspired me)

And add checkpoints every month to track what I am actually doing against these resolutions. (thanks Roy!)