“Then, late one night deep into a mystery novel and a fresh bottle of bourbon, and after a copious snack when such resolutions are possible, the Beginner stood in front of the mirror and said, “I will get in shape or die trying.””
– Jim Harrison, The Search for the Genuine
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“There were stories of prisoners being incarcerated for years in such places. I sat down again and began to prepare myself for an ordeal. First, I would strengthen my will by fasting; I would refuse all food for at least a week. Second, I would make three resolutions to support me through whatever was to come: no regrets, no sentimentality, no self-pity. Then I did what generations of prisoners have done before me. I stood up and, bending my head, I began to walk round and round and round and round . . .”
Terry Waite, Taken on Trust
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Some resolutions are optional. Others are mandatory.
If it would be nice to do something then it will be equally nice not to do it.
If you have to do something then there is no going back.
It’s not a resolution, it’s a necessity.
Not leisure, but survival.
Often a resolution will bubble up from the mulch of shame, whilst we are doing, or have just done the very thing we want to renounce.
The future is solvable with a drink in your hand.
It’s easy to be bold when we can begin tomorrow.
The alternative to resolutions is simply doing a little of what you’d like to do a lot of right now.
I’d love to have more time to write: it would be an easy resolution to boldly declare that I will dedicate one hour a day to it.
The trouble begins when I have to subtract that hour from whatever else I must do.
Instead I write here and there. I have adapted to my circumstances.
But most importantly I have proven to myself that I do want to write. It is not wishful thinking. I am doing it right now.
No resolutions needed.
No promises I will inevitably break.
A simple commitment to take a step forward every day, if I can.
I start to circle the room.
Committing one word at a time.
I might not be a Writer.
But I write…
Conversations With Quotations 