Five Resolutions for 2013

I spent about two hours reducing my list of 30 resolutions to five manageable ones. By keeping my list short I hope to have a greater chance of following through on them.

1)      No more potato chips – Last year I completely gave up soft drinks. Now it is time to remove potato chips from my diet. Chips are a cheap and convenient snack with little or minimal nutrition. I usually buy chips when they are on sale, so I hope that they double in price which would help me to avoid this nasty temptation.

2)      Improve my French – My plan is to set aside one hour, three times a week, to refresh and bring my skills back up to my previous level. When I left Quebec, after living and working there for over five years in the late eighties, I was completely at ease in the language. However, with few opportunities to speak French in the past decade, the language has moved to some secret place in my brain and I can’t seem to come up with the correct word or expressions when I chat with my French neighbors since returning to Canada.

3)      Learn a new skill every month – This means that I will learn 12 new things in 2013. I am going to start with cross-country skiing in January. Although I skied a lot when I was younger I never had formal lessons. I am not sure if I used correct techniques. Considering that it has been years since I spent a winter in Canada I may not even remember how to ski. With plenty of snow, thanks to two storms since Christmas, I have skiing on my mind. I am picking up new skies and equipment this week in order to be ready for my first lesson on January 5^th.

4)      Eliminate paper towel usage – Recently, I have become lazy and overly dependent on disposable paper towels. In the summer, I used small-clothes instead of paper towels that were easy to wash and hang outdoors to dry. Now, I find myself cleaning the windows, wiping up spills, and even drying dishes with paper towels. Not only is this habit a waste of money but it also contributes to the destruction of natural resources. This needs to stop! All I have to do is use the washing machine to spin and remove as much moisture as possible from the clothes before putting them out to dry on sunny days.

5)      Reduce chocolate consumption – I failed with this resolution last year. I am certain that this will be the most challenging resolution. Keeping in mind that “You always pass failure on the way to success.” (Mickey Rooney) I figure that this one  is worth attempting again.  I am going to ease into this by allowing myself something that contains chocolate once or twice a week for the first couple of months instead of trying to completely give it up without a transition period.

Lastly, I made a small poster to put on the kitchen fridge to remind me of these resolutions.