Looking Forward to 2023
by Mary Vine
January 7, 2023
I read an article in AARP The Magazine about actress Helen Mirren. She said, “Each year I make the same New Year’s resolutions: I will not procrastinate. And every year, I procrastinate. I will be more communicative. And every year, I fail to be more communicative. Certain character failings stay with you forever, it seems to me.”
That sounds like several of us, and the reason many no longer make New Year resolutions. Still, I continue to do so. In Proverbs 29:18a the Bible says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” I believe there are a couple of ideas about what this verse means, but the one I take to heart is about looking ahead and making goals to move toward success in a chosen endeavor.
Looking back, I can’t remember a resolution I made about my day job. I simply showed up and tried to work to the best of my ability, yet I did enjoy working with students.
It took me some time to get started on goals, however. At age thirty-six, I started to write and a year later I completed my first novel. Like so many first manuscripts, it didn’t sell. I set it aside and started writing another, then another and the third one sold. That’s when I started making resolutions. Yes, I sit there, close my eyes, and commit to my goal in a prayerful way. Why? Because writing is part of my legacy, what I will leave behind after I leave this world.
Still, like Helen Mirren, I procrastinate. Now, I no longer work outside the home. Also, shortly after retirement age you will know what you will and won’t do (your character failings as Helen had said). I have successful writer friends who write far more words than I do. But I want to do other things, too.
I like to watch TV with my husband and cook now that I have more time. Through my writer’s group, I like to help new writers during the year, and I belong to an author co-op where I write blogposts just like this one. And it’s funny how the older you get it seems the days go so much faster.
So, I make my New Year’s resolution reasonable. I know I personally can’t (or won’t) write three books a year, but I am able to produce one and even two. My new resolution is to write two per year again, because it’s a challenge that is doable.
I know not all of you write but do have the option of making a New Year’s resolution. What is it you really want? Is some of it doable? Will you do it? What will get in the way of your meeting your goal?
Start smaller. Want a garden? How about just grow one plant? Do you need to exercise? How about simply get outside more? Want to redo your house? How about just paint one room. Who knows what else you can do after fulfilling a simple goal?
Further, being older doesn’t mean you are done, by any means. You could live until you are ninety and older, so you still have much to do, one year at a time.
Mary Vine is an author, publisher, speaker, and retired educator. She writes contemporary and historical romantic fiction, a time travel series, and inspirational children’s books. Mary and her husband can usually be found in Southwest Idaho or Northeast Oregon. You can learn more about Mary and her books at her website.
