On resolution

It’s that time of year again. New year. New year’s resolutions….eek. I’ve never really been a fan of the whole resolution thing. I panic when people ask me about mine as somehow it feels a little like a test that I know I am almost certainly going to fail. This is because I am hopeless at keeping them. I am diligent for oh the first couple of weeks but by the time February rolls around, they are completely forgot. I’ve tried reframing the negative ones as positives but no, still they fall out of my head, especially of a Friday when cake is called for. I resolved not to make any new year’s resolutions some time ago and am much the happier for it. And somehow things seem to get done. I even manage to manage the consumption of cake, mostly I suppose because you really can have too much of a good thing… and I have taken the additional precaution of not owing anything with an elasticated waist. And booking a weekend away in early March in a warm place that requires a bikini. It’s amazing how the looming threat of a bikini can focus the mind. And stay the hand.

Plans now are something different but also have a whiff of the tyranny of resolutions about them. I recognise the need for planning. Plans are good. I feel inadequate when asked about mine, mostly because I don’t have any firm ones, you know ones with spreadsheets, bulleted lists and deadlines attached, and feel that I ought. I do, however, have a clear idea of where I would like my practice to be by the end of the year. And I do have a few things in mind that I would dearly like to achieve this year. So here it is… a list with, er, bullets:

• To invite an aspiring artist to create a design, the profits from the sale of which to go towards his or her studies/practice. [This one I can already tick off as the very talented Ajda is already dreaming up patterns.]

• To create a plan to reach my goals for my practice for the year, on a spreadsheet with bulleted lists and deadlines attached so that, you know, when Ajda comes up with her design, I will actually have an idea about how to tell folks about it.

• To master walking backwards in a straight line… so I can learn Argentine Tango.

Well, lists should always be in a Fibonacci number and I take having a work/life balance very seriously. It turns out walking backwards in a straight line is harder than you might think.

There it is. Only two to go. Let’s see how I do.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year.