by
IFW editors
2019
has come and gone. Some of us are sad to say goodbye to a year filled with
blessings; some of us are glad to say “See ya!” to a year of tribulations. With
the new year comes a clean slate—a blank page, if you will—and the chance to write
the next chapter in our lives.
Some
of our editors here at IFW have elected to share their New Year’s resolutions. Perhaps
they’ll inspire some resolutions of your own—or you can inspire us with your 2020 goals
in the comments!
Charl
Firbank-King: My “NO” button is broken—I’m incapable
of saying no—so I’m going to fix it.
Rhonda
Browning White: I’ve given this New Year’s resolution
thing a bit more thought this year, and I have a different take on it than
before. I mean, why do we have to resolve to make a marked change on the first
day of the year, only to (typically) falter or fail weeks or months later? I
mean, there’s enough pressure just to write 2020 instead of 2019, right?
I
wonder, why is it that we don’t make resolutions on other days of the year? Our
birthdays, for example, seem the perfect time for improvement, considering
that’s our personal New Year. Or we can resolve to be more loving on Valentine’s
Day, or to make a new beginning on Easter Sunday or the first day of spring. As
writers, we can resolve to sit down and write today, the very day we put pen to
paper or fingers to keyboard. And we can make that same resolution again
tomorrow, and the day after that. And we can skip a day (or three), and resolve
again when inspiration (or deadline) strikes.
So,
I guess what I’m saying is that I am making a new resolution: I’m resolving to
resolve to make positive changes on a more frequent basis. And, instead of
waiting for New Year’s Day, I’m going to start right now.
Will
you join me?
Eric
Fritzius: People often fail at keeping resolutions because they
shoot at too far a target. Oooh, I’m
gonna exercise every day and lose 50 lbs!
Oooh, I’m gonna keep my office clean and be super productive this
year! Oooh, I’m gonna solve the Riemann
Hypothesis! These sorts of things rarely
work out so well. No, I like to aim at
targets that are far more immediately achievable. I march into the laundry room and announce: “I
resolve that I’m gonna find a way to get the cat food dish from where it fell
behind the washer, four months back.” I
then go find a magnet and some string and I bob around back there until I come
up with cat dish. I then resolve to
celebrate this achieved resolution, possibly with a Reese cup or a libation or
possibly both, depending on my proximity to 5 o’clock. And I move on to resolving to build a little
fence that will prevent the cat from knocking his bowl behind the washer
anymore. See, you can knock out two of
three small resolutions like that in an afternoon and feel genuinely good about
yourself.
Jessica
Nelson: As much as I probably need to resolve to hit the gym
and eat healthier, I think my resolution for 2020 is to be more mindful of how
I react to things. I saw this quote from Charles Swindoll early this year when
it made its rounds on social media: “We cannot change the inevitable. The only
thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I
am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how
I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our
attitudes.” It really resonated with me. I tend to overreact, and usually in a
negative way. So this year, I resolve to be more mindful of my reactions—to not
catastrophize, to manage negative emotions and keep them in proportion to the
situation, and consciously search for the positive when my instinct is to be
pessimistic. So here’s to a more positive 2020!
Sandy
Tritt: Resolutions laugh at me. If I resolve to do or not to do something,
within an hour, my resolution lies crumpled in the corner with a huge smirk on
its face. Never fails.
So,
instead of making a resolution, I want to try something different this year.
Twenty-twenty
insinuates perfect vision. Twenty-twenty is the number of our new year. So, I
am praying for vision—for the ability to see with clarity, wisdom, and
insight—in 2020.
May
2020 be your year for perfect vision—and success. Best wishes from all of us
at IFW.
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