Resolutions of 2009

I am not much of a resolution maker. In the past, I've found myself in a rut waiting for the day that my life was going to change. It may have been New Year's or as soon as I finished whatever was currently consuming my life. Other things I would just wait to start until Monday. Every time New Years and Monday would come and go without my life changing or anything being easier. I realized that I was just using these 'opportunities' as reasons to procrastinate. So now, I generally believe that everyday is an opportunity to do things right (or wrong). I'm not against resolutions. In fact, I think that they are a great way to build a support and accountability network for those particularly tough changes. I've just found that the resolutions that I would make are things I've been trying to do anyway.


This year, the start of a new job coincides nicely with the holiday. It, and the changes that are happening because of it are the real catalyst for my resolutions, but I want to join in the fun, so I am going to talk about them as 2009 goals anyway.

Resolution #1 -- Bedtime
I have tried most of the resolutions that seemed to be standard, or popular every year. I've resolved to diet, workout, manage my time better, be more organized, and all the others that are related. What I've found that it always comes down to is sleep. I'll skip working out because I'm too tired to get up early or I am exhausted from a full day. I'll opt for fast food, or skip eating all together because I am rushed from over sleeping or too tired to want to stand in the kitchen. My thinking is clearer when I've slept and I always feel more productive (no matter how much I've gotten done) when I don't feel like I've been dragging through my tasks. So, I am going to set and maintain a bedtime. I was doing pretty good at this resolution while I was in grad school last year, but I lost it when I changed timezones and now that I have a new job, it is time to reset.

Resolution #2 -- Be Fiber Conscious
Now that I have joined the professional working world, I have a bit more financial freedom. I can now approach shopping as an educated consumer rather than a skimping student. While I am not yet a fiber snob, for the next year I am going to try to buy only natural fibers. This is hopefully going to extend beyond my knitting and into all of my purchases. The United Nations has declared 2009 the International Year of Natural Fibers, and think they did so for good reason. Not only is is good for the earth, it supports economies worldwide. I expect buying natural yarns to be the easy part of this resolution. The difficult part is going to be learning what other changes I can make. A bad example (since I know I will not be buying a car in 2009) but a cool factoid is that there are using a hemp substitute for fiberglass in some cars. Another difficult aspect (especially since I probably will be buying new work cloths this year) is going to be resiting adding any lycra or nylon to my wardrobe.