A Mickeyism for January

Of the one hundred and fifty million resolutions that fail every year, one-third of them have been broken and abandoned by the end of January. A discouraging fact if it's December and you are just giving consideration to your New Year's resolution and clearly not much encouragement, if it's closing in on January 31, and your will power is waning.

I've had an amazing experience, so far, attempting to write a letter a day but it hasn't always been an easy journey. Yes, there have been days when I've had plenty of time to write and the words came easy. Other days, I have torn up completed letters because the writing felt forced and days when I just couldn't find the time to write. Although  abandoning the resolution has never been an option for me, I have definitely felt the frustration of encountering set backs. Words of wisdom, spoken by my mother decades ago, have kept me going.

My mother was a list-maker extraordinaire. She kept lists of books she wanted to read, topics she wanted to explore, corners of the house she wanted to clean... the list of her lists goes on and on. Her daily activities were guided by a To Do List which she lovingly wrote each morning and joyfully attempted to eradicate during the day. I sensed its importance from the time I was old enough to climb up in the chair, next to her, and watch her write. One day, curious as to what kind of punishment she must certainly impose if she didn't complete that all important list, I asked her what happened in those cases. "Nothing", she replied with a smile, "you can never be a slave to your lists."

Courtesy of Google Images

                                                          
As I see it, a resolution and a to-do list are similar. They both identify behaviors we're sure will improve the quality of our lives and failing to follow through brings disappointment. My mother just reasoned that persistence would be more effective than punishment. No nagging, negative self-talk for her. She'd simply pick up where she left off and carry on.

 The letter writing has already brought me immeasurable joy. Now, at the end of the week, I'm going to focus on the joy I have gotten in composing those letters and ignore the nagging reminders, in my head, of the letters that I still need to write. Cheering about the (slightly less) than 31 letters I have completed is definitely easier than contemplating the 300+ I have yet to write.

By the way...that wise mom of mine never wrote resolutions...just lists.