New Year's Resolutions

I'm not one for New Year's resolutions. I find them trite and forced. I always think that if a person really wants to change something, he will do it - whether it is January 1st, April 18th or October 26th.

Having said that, I really enjoy stepping back at the end of a year and reviewing it. That's why I've taken to writing electronic Christmas letters, even though most of the people who receive them find little novel information. Sorry folks, it's really for me: I like to take stock of my year and have a record of that stock-taking, partly for posterity, and partly as a good mental exercise.

The process of writing this year's Christmas letter revealed that 2009 was a year of doing. As you can see in the previous post, Darren and I did a lot of stuff during our first full year in Qatar. The combination of a steady income and a significant amount of free time, paired with our excitement of living in a new place, caused us to explore places we'd never dreamed of. We really did try to make the most of living abroad and the change in lifestyle it provided for us. And I think we succeeded.

But that was last year. I hope that when I sit down in December to review this year, I'll find that 2010 was a year of becoming. At the most basic level, this year I'm going to become a mother, but beyond that, there are many things I want to become. I want to become more generous, loving, and compassionate. I want to become a better friend, wife, and family member. I want to become more intentional in my decisions, thoughts, and with my time.

I don't expect to become all these things in 2010. Nor are these new ambitions, arbitrarily chosen so I'll have an answer when someone asks me what my New Year's resolution(s) is (are). These are things Darren and I have been talking about and slowly working on for about 3 years now. What may be different in 2010 is that we are intentionally going to do less, hopefully leaving more time for becoming.

I realize this becoming will have to take place between things like middle of the night feedings, post-partum hormonal changes, comforting a colicky child, etc. But part of me wonders if the becoming may happen because of them. I'll let you know in about 11 months.