They were talking about making the mistakes of youth … and growing older. Queen Latifah and Sharon Stone.

No, I don’t usually watch television. Yes, it was on today.

That great philosopher Sharon Stone said this about looking back at your youth.

“You know what, though? If you live it fully, you don’t live with this regret that you need to keep staying there.  And if you live presently, each place that you are is wonderful.”

So today is the day in which we consider the year ahead of us and make rash promises of what we will do to make this year better … perhaps different than all the rest.

Right.

Reality?

It is more like a two week to-do list.

We mean well. Really we do.

And we plan to follow through on what we write.

OK.

Maybe not really.

Maybe it is really just a list of things that we wish would magically happen if we think about them hard enough and long enough.

As long as we don’t have to think too hard or too long.

Or actually do any of the stuff on the list.

It’s just supposed to happen. Like magic. Fairy dust. You know.

Yes, I have made a short list of things for my own New Years Resolutions.

Yes, some of them are sort of similar to last year’s list of things.

Yes, some of them are similar to the ones that were on my list of 1996 Resolutions. Some things are universal after all.

A lot are covered in this image I got from the internet.

Nothing like a short list of to-do’s to ensure failure, eh?

It looks like I am not the only one to make Resolutions out there.

But if I made a real New Years Resolution list for 2014 … and was totally honest with myself … it would look more like this:

• Lose Weight – this will of course magically happen without my having to change what I eat.
• Accept My Overweight-ness – and this will happen after I realize that weight loss does not happen without considerable effort. Which I am not willing to do. I will consider it personal growth.

• Exercise More – this of course is relative. Since I currently do nothing, anything will be an improvement. I will assume that no sweating will be involved.
• Try Yoga – in the absence of real exercise, which I also will find myself unwilling to do, I’m thinking stretching will be easier. I think I am in for a rude awakening.

• Date More – and for someone who has never dated dated, per se, this ought to be really interesting. I will consider this a success if I find a playmate.
• Embrace Singleness – this will probably happen shortly after the second free weekend of some major dating site … when I rediscover that there are no real people out there. Not really. I’m holding out hope that I won’t get to this point.

But I think mostly I will follow the advice of Sharon Stone.

Live presently. Then each place I am will be wonderful.

Happy New Year!