New Years Resolutions

Every year, usually on New Year’s eve, my mother asks me what my New Year’s resolutions will be. Like for Christmas, it’s been a number of years since I had New Year’s not with my family. It seems that we’re usually, or perhaps just recently, in Texas, so I spend the evening entertaining my younger cousins, wrestling and watching movies, slipping away to nurse my wounds every now and then. So New Year’s away from home is a bit of a change to my system, as well.

New Year’s resolutions don’t make as much sense here as they do back home. That’s not to say I don’t need to make some changes to myself, but that the typical resolutions don’t apply. Diet? A bit out of my control at the moment. I could and will resolve to exercise more. I have a perfectly good pull up bar outside my room and actually have some floor space that I can use for push ups and jump rope and the like.

Nonetheless, it is an interesting dilemma. I almost feel like I haven’t been here long enough to make any sound judgments regarding what works here and what does not. But I do know myself, or at least I tell myself I do. (I do a fair amount of talking with myself here. One of the benefits and downsides to so much free time.)

I know that I want to exercise more, so I resolve to work out doing pull ups or push ups every day, and to learn more about the Olympic Center pool so that I might use it in the future.

I resolve to be more patient with the people around me. I know that the little things in life can often frustrate me, and that I need to take things more in stride.

I resolve also to read War and Peace, James Clavell’s Asian Saga series, and David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest.

I resolve to work harder to become situated with my community and my school and the students at the school. I want to be approachable so that when they have ideas for projects, they feel they can come to me and know that I will help them. It's too easy to get tired of all the Hello's and What is your name's that I could shrug off a legitimate inquiry.

I worry that I am taking it too easy, which is probably a common feeling at this stage of service, but one that still gnaws at me. So I resolve to be the volunteer I want to be and to branch out from conversation clubs to other activities.

I resolve to be closely connected to my family, my friends, my mees, to remind them always that I have not forgotten or left them, and to show them my life here as best I can.