The narrative of a New Years Resolution is always the same. It comes to December 30th and you think “Oh, I wonder what my New Year Resolution will be?” But by the time the new year rolls in you have talked yourself out of binding yourself to a somewhat useless contract that you know you will eventually break and then feel guilty about.

Sound about right?

I play that game with myself every year but I like the idea of New Years Resolutions. I like the idea of being able to start fresh on something and to have a goal. Last year I wanted to do something new every month. I think I managed it. Honestly, I forgot all about it by May. But I’m sure I can twist something to fit it to avoid breaking the resolution.

This year I have made a couple of resolutions. All of them have get out clauses or very loose rules. I did wonder if this made them pointless and if I was just a victim of the Resolution system. I then decided I didn’t care that much and wanted to do them anyway!

The first is really a continuation from last year. I want to do at least one new thing every month. Knowing some of what is coming up this year I know this will be easy.

The second is I want to read a book a month. I have never been a big reader, but recently I have really enjoyed looking at something that wasn’t made up of pixels. I also think there is a lot to be learnt from books. One of my favourite pass times has been going to a coffee shop, getting a drink and reading a book.

With this second resolution, I am giving myself a 2 week grace period. The main reason I am doing this is not that I read 12 books but that I have an incentive to read. Even if I only get through 8 books, that is better than the 2 or 3 a year I go through at the moment.

You see, this is what it comes down to for me. Would I complete these resolutions because I want to do them? Or because I have to now that I have blogged about them?

I am doing these resolutions because I want to. I want to do something new every month to keep things exciting and fresh and to make sure I don’t get too stuck in a rut. And I am aiming to read a book a month because I want to read more books. I don’t have to make resolutions for these really but I find it a helpful aid.

As yet, I have not thought what I am going to do this month. Also, I am half way through a book at the moment. So I don’t have a clean start for that. But honestly, it doesn’t matter. The point of the resolutions are to encourage, to guide and to help in what I want to do. As soon as they stop doing that, then I will stop doing them.