Resolutions of a different kind

by The Flamingo

Happy New Year, everyone! May this new decade bring you all you ever wanted. I don’t usually make resolutions, hated the thought until I turned 30. Overnight I got a little wiser and I started making some grand resolutions, making me feel better about myself, like I am a responsible adult in control of my own affairs. Well… I never kept those resolutions and it was not a pleasant feeling dealing with the echo of my failures. Like… who in their right mind would set a resolution to live in a little cottage by the beach surrounded by hordes of cats, with a half hour walk to one of the Disneylands and a Provencal village at the same time? Right?! Totally unrealistic goals!

So, this year, I told myself to start small, with things that are under my control and that will make my life better:

• Take up swimming in the Swiss freezing pools (I swear these people have ice running through their veins and not hot blood).
• Find more cats to pet on the streets and not give up chasing after them after the first 200 m.
• Teach more kids, write more articles, paint more pictures.
• Try not to stare more than half a minute at a price tag in a shop, the third figure won’t magically disappear from the heat of my look.
• See better in the dark, especially when pouring medicine down my child’s throat during the night and not mistake his ear or nose for his mouth… like I did last night, right in the eye.
• On this note...sleep more than 5 hours a night. 
• Visit the Monet/Renoir/Chagall exposition in Atelier des Lumières, Paris, at least once. 
• Watch the whole Woody Allen collection of movies from top to bottom.
• Win my battle with cattle dung! It will bother me no longer, I will embrace it and thrive on its many many healthy qualities.
• Learn how to make the perfect sushi.
• Complaining less and slaying my own monsters with the katana on the wall.
• Obsess over a new song this new year (last year was Ugly Kid Joe’s “Cats in the cradle”, two years ago “Lost on you” by LP,  three years ago “Perfect Day” by Miriam Stockley, four years ago Bruno Mars’ “Uptown funk”, while pregnant Mika’s “Boom boom boom”…my baby was falling asleep on it). I’m really odd like that…
• Dance more when nobody’s looking. 
• Bake more sweets, but not gain weight eating them. 
• Eat less meat.
• Embrace feminism a little more, like changing a light bulb, hanging a picture on the wall, carrying heavier bags than 10 kg, opening a jar, having a lover or two.

Achievable objectives that are under my control are my goals for this year. Conquer those and maybe go bigger next year. I’d love to hear some of your resolutions, dear readers!

Photo from Flamingo‘s archive.