Resolution Re-mix: It's all about the verbs

Since it is the beginning of a fresh, new year and I haven't blogged for over six months, it seems appropriate to kick-off this re-emergence with a resolution re-mix. 

Every January, I, like many others make resolutions. I typically come up with five or six of them written in lengthy sentences with exact details:

•  By (insert date here), I will do (insert verb here) for (insert time here) long every day 
•  I won't (insert verb here) anymore. 
• I will give up (insert vice here) for an entire year. 

I've always figured the more specific I am the more likely I am to complete it, but unfortunately my resolutions drift to the wayside about halfway through January. I fall short of the specific target and just decide to give up. I didn't achieve it in the exact way I had planned, so in my mind I have failed. And for some reason, I've also convinced myself that you only have one chance to achieve a resolution. If for some reason, you fail on January 15th, then you can't try again until next January when it is officially time for making resolutions again. 

So this year, I'm going to do a resolution re-mix. The concepts of reflecting and resolving are ones I believe in and want to practice, but this cycle of resolving and giving up isn't getting me anywhere. For 2016, my resolution list is going to be simpler and cleaner ---no more wordy sentences, no more rigid timelines. I'm getting rid of the adjectives, adverbs, nouns, and prepositions and just going with a bulleted list of verbs ---the action words. 

2016 RESOLUTIONS

• Blog - As a literacy coach, I have been convicted that I can not teach writing if I am not regularly engaged in the practice of writing. I can not model reflection, if I am not utilizing regular methods of reflection. I seem to blog in spurts. I hope this year to make it a part of my normal routine. 
• Read - I am taking part in the Sixty Books reading challenge and tracking the books I read on Goodreads. 
• Run - I'm hesitant to even include this one. I'm fairly certain it is just a holiday delusion that will quickly pass when I get back on my regular schedule.  I barely walk consistently for exercise, but lately I've been thinking about trying to run. I can count on one hand the number of times I have actually run in the last year. When I see people running in my neighborhood, they don't even look like they are having fun... yet, much like Forrest Gump, I just have this urge to take off running. This is the one verb that is pushing me to an unknown realm, the one I am most doubtful of. I'm going to use Couch to 5K for my plan. 
• Believe (again) - Yes, I know. I broke my own rule and put in an adverb, but I had to. This past year, I lost my job. I was "fired", and it was the first time anything like that had happened to me. Thankfully, I had many friends and family members who shared with me similar experiences, so I knew I wasn't alone, but I have to admit it shook me to the core. I started doubting my own worth, my own abilities and perceptions. I doubted the sovereignty of God. I doubted the goodness of people. For the last half of 2015, I spent many moments pulling back from people and places afraid to trust again. This year, I desperately want to grow through that experience and use it as a stepping stone rather than a stumbling block---to learn, change, and most of all believe (again).

Here's to 2016 and a year full of verbs.