© Pierre Maré,
2004 - 2007
Offbeat 129
At this point of the year, Christmas is pretty much mapped out: a very early morning to satisfy my daughter’s anticipation, followed by a meal that won’t consist of anything like turkey. In fact I’m going for a barbecue this year, with the hope that it won’t rain, if only for a few hours. I’ll cap it off with non-alcoholic trifle for the young one, and something subtle but very potent for the adults.
With all that behind me, it seems like a fair time to start thinking about New Year’s resolutions. As usual, I won’t be opening my mouth on the evening. Alcohol makes me brave, sometimes to the point of stupidity. And I don’t intend to measure my year by unrealistic goals such as finally learning to play the guitar and becoming a rock star or building a replica of the Mona Lisa with used matchsticks.
So what should the New Year’s resolution be? I promised myself I would lose weight last year, but didn’t get very far with that. So I suppose that will be high on the list.
Yet as I think of it, the reason I did not lose weight was probably due to the fact that I did not make time to lose weight. I did not bother to make salads, or buy them. I did not take the time out to run around the block or lift the weights that are hanging around with an accusing air in the bottom of my cupboard. I didn’t even do a push-up.
Somewhere along the way, the whole work ethic thing scuttled the idea. Occupation has ingrained itself in me: I learned the habit at school, at home and by example in a number of workplaces. In fact, if I don’t have anything to do, I go out and find something to do. But those times are few and far between.
So it has arrived at the point where I don’t make time for myself, and my stock response to questions about relaxation is that my next holiday will be the year after next on a Tuesday in March.
But, for all the allure of being a productive person, work hasn’t gotten me anywhere, with the exception of a web business that is only now starting to come into its own. I’ll take a holiday when the thing is running itself, which is probably never or at least in the next month that begins with the letter ‘q’.
I have found of late that I am no longer able to absorb effort of continuous work. I used to be able to go out, have a bunch of beers and lose the mind-twisting sense of sleep deprivation in the awful hangover that followed the next morning. But things have changed. Aside from the fact that I don’t spend much time in pubs, I have found that I am slowing down. “All work and no play makes Jack dopey and slow to respond.” I can’t work out a way to make that rhyme, for a start, and I can’t be bothered to try.
So aside from still trying to eat more salads and be more active, I am going to put quality time somewhere on the list, most likely at the top, given the probability that chopping salads and running around sweating can in some strange way be regarded as ‘quality’.
I will rigorously avoid adding additional ambitions and hobbies, and try to spend more time thinking of nothing. I will read a bit more as well, rather than relying on ten minutes before lights out to clear my mind. I will play computer games again from time to time.
Perhaps I will renege on my New Years’ resolution from two years back, and start watching TV again. The little one seems more able to cope with the idea that ‘mommy and daddy are watching now, so you will just have to wait to watch Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus for the 93rd time’.
I will also avoid thinking about what I have to do or should really be getting up off my butt to do, when I am supposed to be doing absolutely nothing.
That being said, I swapped TV for work and occupation at the beginning of 2005, and that occupation sank my idea of becoming a fit, health cover boy for a middle-aged version of Men’s Health in 2006. Where will my 2007 resolution lead me? Who knows. I’ll let you know if it helped, about the same time next year. Merry Christmas. Happy New Year.
Back to the archive • Previous • Next • Home
