Reverb #11: What are 11 things your life doesn’t need in 2011? How will you go about eliminating them? How will getting ride of these 11 things change your life?
I have a list of things I want to get rid of…not entirely sure how I go about the elimination process. Is it as easy as pulling a Nancy Reagan and simply “saying no?” Methinks not, but I’ve got to start somewhere.
1. Bitterness. It’s like I tell Liam, when he complains about something Caleb did a week ago: “it’s over, done. Nothing to be done. Let it go.” Need to follow my own advice.
2. Sniping as a form of dialogue.
3. Sarcasm, especially when it’s directed at my children. A wise teacher once told me that sarcasm directed at those who are less powerful isn’t funny, it’s just nasty.
4. An over-reliance on cheese. All that dairy just can’t be good for me, or my late-forties heart. Not sure what to eat instead – and no one had better say anything about soy cheese.
5. “Trying.” It’s like Yoda said. “Do. Or do not. There is no try.” All that “trying” isn’t a panacea; it’s not a band-aid against things not being done. Instead of “trying” to get things done, I need to find some other, more accurate phrase, including the very difficult but important “nope, not gonna happen, no can do.”
6. Fear. Really, what’s the worst thing that could happen? So you try side crow and fall on your face. Does the world end?
7. Perez Hilton. Okay. Maybe not Perez Hilton. Can’t a girl have one guilty pleasure? Except no. He’s just mean. And participates in a whole world of privacy invasion that I don’t want to be a part of.
8. Impatience. Take a breath. Take two breaths. Heck, take three.
9. The muffin tube above the waistband of my jeans. Focusing on #4, above, may help with that. More yoga, ditto.
10. Fighting with my kids about their eating habits. I put it on the table. They eat or don’t eat. I no longer want the table to be a squabble ground and I don’t want to cook three dinners. I think #10 will become a corollary of #8…and #3…maybe a dollop of numbers 1 & 2, too. Hmm.
11. Not writing. Which is to say that more writing must happen in 2011. Which is to say that #11 is really #1. More writing, more yoga, more family game night instead of family clustered each on his or her own laptop.
What’s on YOUR list of eleven things to let go?
I find higherwaist jeans can help with #9. Seriously.
Heck, I’m middleaged–might as well be Virginia Woolf’s Old Mrs. Grey as far as the kids are concerned–so no matter where my jeans’ waistline lies, the kids aren’t going to think I’m cool; countrymatronness swapped for less visible muffintop seems like an okay trade. Plus, don’t have to worry about what might pop out or show when you’re turned around and trying hard to write on the top of the board in front of a full class. ;P
Love the list. I should just embroider #3 on a tea towel, as my mother used to say. I find it so hard to stifle the sarcasm, even (especially) when I hear it back at me from my six year old. Really, it is just nasty. Six is going to be Seven in two days, I hope we can all get along.
PS: I’m eating cheese.
Wow! That’s a great list!
May I suggest cocaine instead of cheese? You may not want to do yoga after but it will help: get things done, not worry about food, reduce waistline. Oh, but you might become a Grade A Douchebag….sacrifices though, am I right?
Wow. I love this approach. New Years Resolutions that actually seem doable. Re: Perez Hilton – I know how you feel. I only started obsessively reading People.com after I had kids (I know it’s not fair to blame my kids for everything I hate about myself…I’ll make that #1 on my list of 11 things to stop.) Anyhoo, as someone who used to relish each page of the New Yorker, celebrity gossip is sometimes all I can intellectually handle these days, even though it’s absolutely mind rotting.