When Does the New Become Old and How Does a Writer's Mind Work?

Every New Year I promise to do better at something or broaden my horizons by learning a new language or whatever. This year is different and here's why.

The modern Shard building poking up behind The Tower of London

(Photo taken by me during a visit to London in December 2021)

Now that the hoo-ha has all died down and life slowly crawls back to what it was in BC (before Christmas), I thought I would take a few moments to reflect on the holiday break and, more importantly, focus on going forward into 2023.

Every year, like most folks, I guess, I make some resolutions that I’m going to exercise more or take up a new hobby or any number of things that I think I should improve upon. I wrote about the promises I made to myself in my last post, which you can read about here. And yes, I start off full of hope and enthusiasm but sure enough, the new fairly quickly turns into the old and becomes, well, lost in the sea of everyday life.

Despite my determination to lose those extra pounds that have somehow found their way onto my hips, tummy, or behind, regardless of the fact that I didn’t over-indulge this year and not one mince pie or crumb of Christmas pudding passed my lips, I am not going to fall into the same trap this year. (How come those unwanted pounds of flesh have mysteriously appeared?) Well, if I knew the answer to that, a rich lady I would be, indeed. Rest assured though, I will certainly share the secret with you if I ever discover it.

So, the usual New Year’s resolutions about losing weight or exercising more have been jettisoned in favour of more doable ones. And, to be frank, more realistic, achievable, and, dare I say it, more useful ones.

I have made a pledge to myself to be more assertive and resilient. Nothing too far-out about that, I hear you say. However, I am an extremely easygoing soul and because of this, I tend to let others do what they want to do rather than saying, no, I don’t want to do x, y or z. And if that person doesn’t like it, I am going to be much more resilient and not let their reaction affect me as much as it currently does…erm, I mean, did. Did affect me. Oh boy, it’s not going to be as simple as I thought. This clearly demonstrates how I need to re-think the way I think, which is not going to be easy for somebody of my age. If I am successful in re-training my brain on how to react to some situations, I won’t have to constantly wrestle with myself when I am carried along on a sea of over-exuberance by those around me.

I am also going to dedicate more time to relaxing and settling down with a good book rather than leaving it to bedtime to catch up on an interesting story, whether it be true or fictional. As a writer, I read or listen to books for enjoyment as a reader but I also read or listen to them with a writer’s mind. Let me explain. I am currently listening to The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama. What a wonderfully rounded, inspiring, and beautiful human being this lady is. Anyway, as I snuggled down at the end of a very long and busy day with my earplugs firmly pressed in, (yes, I still use the old wire types which plug into my phone, none of the new-fangled wi-fi buds in my ears), I was so mesmerized by Michelle’s storytelling that I didn’t fall asleep and let me tell you, that’s a BIG thing because most audiobooks send me straight off and into the land of nod where I push out the zed’s and get tangled up in my headphones...