As we start the new year here’s a little list of things I resolve for 2019.
Ignore the ignorant
On Facebook I too often interact on posts that are racially ignorant, societally ignorant, or just generally ignorant of the plight of others.
I’m sure the posters/sharers of these posts are well-meaning, but I often find it hard to deal with their lack of compassion or understanding of a situation as a whole.
I also fully understand that sometimes there are things I’m ignorant about, one can’t know all things about all things. But, I at least try and find out about things I don’t know before I post about them, or in the past, before I respond to a post. And if, or when, I’m wrong I freely admit this error, I don’t double-down on the misinformation as if it is fact beyond all evidence to the contrary.
My responses tend to take a lot of time as I often spend time looking into the issue at hand and see if there is merit to the poster’s point of view. I should say I often spend too much time looking into these issues. It’s time I just don’t have, and usually opens a Pandora’s box of emotions around the topic I really don’t have the will to deal with. So no more.
Trust me, this one is a hard one for me, because I thoroughly believe in the ideals in the “First they came…” poem. I also grew up as the member of a group of a people who were constantly derided in public. I spent my childhood hearing how my existence was wrong, disgusting, against everything Australia stands for… so I know how easily this type of ignorance affects the mind of those on the other end of it. But I need to do me for a while. Become self-sufficient and hopefully I can work on the BS Brigade in the future. But for 2019… nope… won’t do it.
This year I resolve to be on social media less;that’s the main place where ignorance thrives. It has quite possibly been the worst thing to happen to the world and seems to be quickly removing humanity from humans.
Passivity is so last year
AKA: React less, do more.
I do a lot of taking stimulus in. I watch too much TV and YouTube. Much of the TV is digested while sitting on the couch. Often with iPad in hand which sees me only partly paying attention to what I’m watching, so am I really watching it? or am I just chilling and not really concentrating on either the iPad or the TV show? It’s more an act of procrastination than actual enjoyment.
There are a few TV programs I thoroughly enjoy. They can stay around and they can be there for times when I have boring tasks to do where they can play in the background or when I’m in the work-room sewing, though that time tends to be when when I listen to Podcasts.
Ultimately though, I have shit I have to do, and I have shit I WANT to do… but I’m not doing enough of either because I’m too “busy” taking in the stories of others rather than making my own.
This year I resolve to do less watching the stories of others and more making stories of my own.
5, 4, 3, 2, 1!
A massive thing for me is a level of anxiety and depression I suffer. And I do “suffer” it. Suffering is another passive action, it’s something that is happening TO me.
I recently watched a Creative Live talk by Mel Robbins, the creator of the 5-Second Rule. The class was titled “How to Break the Habit of Self-Doubt and Build Real Confidence” and it was an eye-opener for sure.
I have already been using it since watching this video in the closing days of 2018 and I’m seeing more action. More doing. I will continue using this to spur me on to doing and creating. I thoroughly recommend the class to anyone who feels their life isn’t what they want it to be… you can make it better.
Mel talks to the anxiety and depression in this passive sense and qualifies that yes, we can’t do anything about how we feel, but we can decide how we react to those feelings when they hit. It’s kind of the same as those who say “just snap out of it” but without saying it so callously, and Mel provides tools for starting your action to combat the feelings… and that’s where the 5-second rule comes in as part of the solution. It’s such a simple thing and yet it has so much power.
This year I resolve to use the 5-Second Rule and the other teachings from Mel’s talk to push myself beyond my comfort zone, to get shit done, and to make my life better as a whole.
Conclusion
I could do the usual resolutions of “exercise more”, “lose weight”, etc. And those things need to happen, but I think by concentrating on the things above these typical resolutions will come to pass all on their own and hopefully will just become part of the habits of my life.
Do you have any resolutions of your own?