Resolution

In the same way that December is appropriate for Christmas parties, hangovers and weight gains, January welcomes good resolutions in order to kick off the New Year properly. According to the global feeling about the previous year and how you started the new one, everyone can build up his own story and elaborate small challenges in order to improve his life or not, depending if the goal is achieved or not.

In 2006, as I have to confess it started really badly from day one, I picked my resolution in what I would call the first category of resolutions. So last year, I chose not to even try to quit on smoking. And I am really proud to say that indeed, I did not even thought about it. The aim of this sort of resolution is to be realistic by not trying to achieve something too difficult by picking something that we cannot fail… Because for people really confident and happy in their life, not achieving their resolution is no big deal, as they are strong enough to convince themselves than anyway, lots of people do the same. To give up on a good resolution for someone like me for instance -as I cannot really consider myself like being the most positive person in the world- it can indeed become a catastrophe and make me feel about myself even worse than usually (please bare in mind that usually is already not really good, thank you).

As for the moment, 2007 has just started and that 2006 started and ended really badly (it has probably been one of the worst year of my life actually) I am not quite sure about which sort of resolution I should pick this year. But I am quite tempted to give it a try and make my choice in the second category of resolutions, a bit less original but having a bit more credibility as they ask a bit more than an effort to be achieved. For exemple:

Loosing on weight -> does not really need to belong to the resolution list as after spending Christmas in my home country, I have NO CHOICE!

Quitting on smoking -> can be considered. But as apparently you need to really want to quit to actually succeeding… I can’t be bothered and I don’t want to sound too wise or old or something like that either.

Enjoying beer -> suggested by a friend of mine yesterday. If the concept is interesting as it would save me some money (cheapest alcohol where I live), cannot be applicable. Why? Beer make you put on weight an awful a lot (check cricket’s fans) which is not compatible with the first resolution quoted above.

Telling stupid people to f*** off -> really seducing concept but not applicable 24 hours a day as part of my job is to deal with people who don’t have a clue about what is an idiom or an adjective, which is quite annoying when you work in translations. On the top of that, when you think about it, telling a dumb person: “Go to hell!!!”, is such a waste of time…

Finally, the third category of good resolutions designed by people particularly positive or more simply, stupid:

Doing 50 abs everyday -> nobody can seriously think about torturing himself everyday during the next 365 days and not giving up

Looking like Naomi Campbell -> my skin is far too clear for that

Becoming immortal -> No comment

Stopping growing old -> Lucifer seems to be fully booked this year again

Oh well... 

You all know me enough to know that anyway, I won’t take any good resolution of this sort at all. BUT it does not mean that I can’t change a couple of things to become a better person (which has obviously nothing to see with loosing on weight or doing abs) so I decided to get rid of my legendary fear and hate of birds. When I went back to my parents’ place for Christmas this year, I have been lucky enough to see hundreds of birds which I maybe won’t see ever again as they are about to disappear. Either because of the human activity (think about albatrosses, you can’t really miss the campaign for them in the tube) either because they can survive only in a particular ecosystem which is really fragile (as I grew up in a marchland: odd ecosystem you say? Tell me about it!). And even if I can't really talk about protecting the earth for the children I will never give birth to, it does not necessarily mean that I don't care. I can't imagine that one day it might never rain during the summer to refresh the atmosphere or that the mountains will never be under the snow again. 

"Drop the last year into the silent limbo of the past. Let it go, for it was imperfect, and thank God that it can go." (Brooks Atkinson)