Books We Love Insider Blog: New Year's Resolutions Made Easy by Gail Roughton

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

New Year's Resolutions Made Easy by Gail Roughton

Another year has come and gone, and it’s that time again. You know, the time when everyone sets themselves up with impossible goals and unattainable dreams. “This year I’m going to lose enough weight to get into a size two.” “This year I’m going to eat only organic.” “This year I’m going to write the Great American Novel.”

People! Enough already. We don’t have enough stress in our lives already? Why set yourself up for disappointment? Instead, set yourself some goals you know you’ll have no trouble reaching. Take me, for instance. Here’s my list:

After 41 years in a law office as a legal secretary/paralegal/general troubleshooter, I’m going to retire. I’m retiring in March 15, 2016 and I’ve been on countdown for two years. Especially this last year, so much so that when folks around the office ask me how much longer, I immediately respond “Six months, two weeks, four days and 3.5 hours”. Depending on the time of day, of course. I think they’ve kept asking just to see if I’m keeping an actual mental calendar in my head. Uh—yeah. I’m giving myself a bit of leeway on the actual date. Hopefully March 15 and March 30 at the latest. So that’s a resolution I’ll have no trouble keeping.

I’m going to eat what I please, when I please, and not worry about my size or weight. And since that’s pretty much what I’ve done all my life (okay, so I’m blessed with good genetics and apparently a high metabolism and I’ve never had much of a weight problem), that’s another resolution I won’t have any trouble keeping.

I’m not going to take a trip around the world. In the first place, I can’t afford it, and in the second—I don’t like to travel. So there’s another resolution out of the way.

I’m going to finish my current work in progress, Book 2 in the Southern Justice series, which has been a long-term off and on process these last two years. I’ve got a big incentive there. My publisher’s going to kill me if I don’t.

I’m going to spend a lot of time with my family in general and my grandchildren in particular. Not difficult, since my house is already Granddaddy Day Care Central. With my husband already retired, neither of our grandchildren have ever seen the inside of a Day Care Center, and with their parents’ somewhat unorthodox work schedule, they’re at our house pretty much every week day from roughly noon or earlier up to eight or nine p.m. So I already spend a lot of time with my grandchildren. And I definitely enjoy them. But as a bonus beginning in March, I’ll be able to enjoy them a lot more since I won’t be braindead and exhausted from a day at the office. I don’t know about you, but personally, I’m of the opinion God gives us grandchildren because we didn’t have enough sense when we were young parents to know what was important in raising children and what wasn’t. We thought we knew, but we didn’t. Or maybe you did, I’m not passing judgment here. But I didn’t. For example: I didn’t realize how unimportant it was that the dishes were done and put up immediately after supper or the kitchen floor swept. What I now realize is of vital importance is sitting on the floor and working puzzles with three year olds and listening to nine year olds tell you about their day at school. Yes, of course I did that with my own kids. But did I give those wonderful interactions the full attention they deserved? Many times, sadly no. So grandchildren are our second chance to get it right.

Now. See how easy it is to set manageable goals that won’t set you up for failure? And if you’re really pressed for time, here’s a short version that encompasses everything calculated to make for supreme happiness. It’s not original and in fact, it’s rather “out of this world” in origin. But it pretty much covers everything. Resolve to make every attempt to “Live long and prosper.”