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Thursday, August 31, 2006

101st Post -- Schoolyear's Resolutions

I'd been planning it for a week. I'd weighed my thoughts, brainstormed with my keyboard, and changed my direction 50 times. My 100th post would be well written, inspirational and a call to action for my readers.

Except that my calculation was off. The 100th post I planned to write on Saturday snuck in on Thursday, with a lot less finess than I'd meant, and a topic that was a little more prehistoric than usual. I looked on my Blogger dashboard and saw "100 posts". Oh for crying outloud. Whoops!

Anyhoo, as I enjoy the last few days of my kids at home, experiencing more peace than I'd expected, despite stumbling over the basement obstacle course and mowing around their fort-of many-colors, I consider the coming months of schoolday solitude and ponder...

...Schoolyear's Resolutions.

Like many parents, our family's life revolves around the school calendar, rather than the Roman one, so I'm making schoolyear's resolutions - goals I'm setting for myself as we enter this new chapter. I read the book, The Hurried Woman Syndrome, and felt that much of it was an Ah-ha moment for me. So my goals will focus upon stress reduction.

Of course, my best personal resolution would be to stop trying to be the valedictorian of everything (thanks Dooce, for this phrase), and be happy with a B+ average in life. But that would require a personality change and more therapy than I have time for.

So instead, these are my resolutions:

1. Attitude
Appreciate the phenominally fantastic, yet everyday events that I'm blessed to experience. Spend one-on-one time with my husband and each child, every week -- even if it's just coffee, or just a bike ride, or just a trip to the grocery store.

2. Simplicity
Remember my family's priorities. Be satisfied with myself and accept my imperfections, even if I'm trying to improve them. Focus on writing assignments and professional engagements that bring me joy. Volunteer for short-term school commitments, rather than overwhelming ones. Smile more. Spend less.

3. Health
Exercise at least a half-hour, at least 3 days per week. Start to count calories, and reduce the bad ones.

I know I'm not the only one that makes goals at the beginning of the schoolyear. Just today, I commented on a Thursday Thirteen post like this (and if I find her site again, I'll link to it!) If you'd like to start some schoolyear's resolutions of your own, I'd love to hear them. You can leave them in comments, or if anyone's interested, I'll put up a Mr. Linky.

(This is a part of the Crazy Hip Blog Mamas writing collaboration project.)

5 Comments:

  • I think any time is a great time to make positive changes in your life.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At 3:50 PM  

  • You mean New Year resolutions aren't enough? I'm not sure I can live up to this twice a year :o)

    Andrew
    To Love, Honor and Dismay

    By Blogger Andrew McAllister, At 4:25 PM  

  • I'm starting that exercise at least 3x per week thing too. Just bought an exercise bike yesterday. I rode for an hour this morning... hope I can keep with it.

    Good luck with all your goals.

    Thanks for stopping by my site, and commenting! (I LOVE comments!)

    By Blogger Heather, At 11:11 PM  

  • You know, it has never occurred to me to make "schoolyear resolutions" as opposed to calendar year resolutions, and I LOVE the idea. I might actually succeed at these as opposed to my wretched New Year's Resolutions that last all of one week. I also like all of your resolutions, especially on improving the good calories and reducing the bad. I have a lot of bad calories in my life...

    By Anonymous Anonymous, At 12:57 AM  

  • Each school year I say this will be the year I get it together. There will be no letters from the lunch lady reminding me to send in money, there will be no teary eyed child who lost five minutes of recess because I didn't sign her agenda (again) and most cetinly there will be no crazy mornings because we woke up late. This year everyone will be able to find their shoes and no one and I mean no one will be eating a pop tart at the bus stop.... Yeah this year I will get it together....

    By Blogger fivetimemom, At 7:17 PM  

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