During the recent round of gatherings that this season always brings, I’ve been asked by a couple of people if I have any Resolutions (and you can hear the capital letter in the question), or any Goals (ditto) for the new year. And really, the answer’s yes and no for that.
The problem is that, while I may well set goals for myself, I don’t particularly see this activity as being in any way associated with the change of calendar. I’ve become very conscious of the arbitrary nature of our system of months and years. And so I find it difficult to require myself to make decisions about how things are going, what to change, etc. right now.
In fact, I feel like I’ve been drifting away from the conventional ways society has of measuring time for some little while now. Three years in the Deep South after growing up in Canada has mostly wiped away my intuitions about the seasons and how they work. I’ve experienced three different forms of the academic year in the last five. And I travel around enough that the regular events of any given community tend to drift by me without my noticing.
I mentioned something like this observation to Elbie, and his response was, well, that’s why it’s important for you to update your blog more than once a week. So I suppose that if I must have a Resolution, then let it be that.