Instead of a New Year’s resolution, I tried to find a single word to inspire me this year. After a few good runner’s up, I have chosen the word prioritize.
I want to use my new-found time, free from the cubicle, and now with my husband free too. But how? A quote from Mahatma Gandhi got me thinking about it. “A ‘no’ uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a ‘yes’ merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.”
At the same time, I really do enjoy the advice from improv, to say yes to everything. Don’t you love it when there are two great philosophies that contradict themselves? Still, I think the essence of the happiness I’m looking for is to say yes when an invitation is exciting, new, possibly taking me out of my comfort zone, offering a discovery or adventure, an idea that opens new avenues and possibilities.
But saying no is also important. How easy it is to get sidetracked, interrupted, signed up for some event that is just another obligation. Watching television comes to mind as an item to subtract from life unless the show or movie is really worthy. What about suggestions from friends and family? So many times people buy me a book, insist I watch a movie, follow an internet link and so on. These suggestions are all intriguing, but many provide tangents that take me off-task. The next thing I know, the day is nearly gone. It is important to me to try to seize the day, the hour, the minute, as Kipling says “with 60 seconds of distance run”.