My New Year's Resolutions

I don’t usually make New Year’s resolutions, but I thought I’d give it a go this year. So here goes.
I do hereby resolve…
1. To read the entire Bible in a year, per the plan I linked to in Saturday’s post. (Two days in, and I’m already ahead, having read eight chapters of Genesis instead of four on the first day. So far so good. That is, until I skip an entire week, thereby forcing myself to blitz through twenty-eight more chapters on the first day of school, but let’s not borrow trouble just yet.)
2. To take better care of myself physically. Because of my back problem (combined scoliosis and kyphosis), I have to be more religious about things like posture, sleep and exercise than most people. Needless to say, I’m not very religious about these things. I slouch, I go to bed late, and I’m lazy about doing the exercises my therapist gave me. As a result, I’m often more miserable than I need to be. So I resolve to listen to my body when it tells me I need to sit right, go to bed, etc., etc. (The occasional muscle relaxant wouldn’t be a bad idea either.) Like now for example: I’m sitting all curled up as I write this, and it’s uncomfortable. I don’t need that, so I just straightened out, and now I’m sitting properly. And it feels better. Go figure.
3. To waste less time, particularly on the Internet. Notice I did not say “to stop wasting time,” because I’m trying to set goals I actually have a chance of achieving. But I can easily waste less. This means making choices like ignoring trolls, refraining from leaving comments when I know they’ll be unwelcome and hence kicking off a prolonged debate, checking favorite blogs less frequently for updates, and letting websites that aren’t worth my time fall off the radar altogether.
4. To take online connections and relationships a little more lightly. I invested in a lot of those last year. Results were mixed. I’d prefer not to repeat some of those results this year. This could also interlock with the “wasting time” resolution.
5. To become more practical. I was born to be an absent-minded professor. I space out frequently, clean my room rarely, and forget everything. With all my academic skills, somehow putting my buttery knife in the dishwasher slips my mind every morning. And taking the garbage out is a process that can take several hours, as I tell Mom, “Oh, I’ll be sure to do that,” walk away and forget about it, then eventually remember and come back. In this way, I can be frustratingly masculine. For whatever reason, that female practicality is just missing from my brain. This year, I resolve to change that as far as I am able.
6. To become less anxious. It may be hard to believe, but I am a timid person. I’m timid in the sense that I have no spirit of adventure whatsoever, and I’m afraid to learn new things with which I have no experience. I’d use the phrase “comfort zone,” except it represents everything I hate about the cheapening of the English language, so I won’t. But, IF I were talking in the shallow, jargony manner that I hate so much, I would re-phrase this resolution by saying that I’d like to “step out of my comfort zone.”
7. I know I should probably have a nice, round number, but I’m running out of resolutions, and the ones I’ve already listed should keep me busy enough as it is. Six looks good. I’ll leave it at that.
Now it’s your turn. [Insert quietly evil chuckle here.]