New Year's Resolutions and McDonald's

Ah, the time for resolutions is upon us...pretty reliably every year I make a resolution involving some sort of working out and something like that. Like a majority of the American populous, by the time February something-or-other has rolled around, I've more than forgotten about my workout commitment; by this point I've started frequenting the drive-thru more than before and am already sleeping through my classes. What can I say? McDonald's is delicious. But for those couple of weeks in January I, like a large portion of the the resolution-creating masses, am dedicated to making this year THE YEAR, the one where I really do it. For those couple weeks, I'm really effective at whatever it is I've set to. And this year I'm going to use that to my advantage.

I once started eating baked chips with my lunch instead of the normal fried ones because they were "healthier." My suitemate, Kit, pointed out that unless I was planning on swapping out for those baked chips on a long-term scale, there was pretty much no point in me even trying them. Changing to baked chips for one day wouldn't have any effect on my overall health or habits. And for a couple weeks or so, I made that switch. Then Cheetos started calling my name, and, well, that was the end of that game. Moral of the story: Don't commit yourself to things you're not that interested in staying committed to. Maybe if I'd combined eating better with a workout plan, or a food journal I'd have actually accomplished something with my chip change. But the swap was just an impulsive idea I came up with when standing in line.

I think there can be a lot of power in the New Year's resolution. The beginning of a new year can be the chance for you to make that critical change you've been looking for, whether it's something like quitting smoking or working out. My recommendations:

1. Resolve to do something important and achievable. Make this the day that you do something positive for yourself, and improve yourself as a whole. At the same time, don't resolve to quit smoking cold turkey if you're going through a pack and a half a day. Be realistic and safe; resolving to cut down your smoking by a cigarette a day or something like that makes much more sense.
   
2. Keep track of your resolution. Get a calendar and check off when you successfully do whatever it is you resolve, whether you run that mile and a half or drive past the Dairy Queen without buying something.
3. Reward yourself for long-term successes. Do something that you enjoy for every couple of weeks that you keep your resolution going. Go out to a nice dinner, buy yourself the game or whatever that you've been thinking about. Give yourself an incentive to keep the trend going.
4. Take yourself seriously. Part of holding to a resolution is understand you've got the potential to do it. There will be difficult parts and times when you don't think you can carry through with it, regardless of what the goal is. That's part of commitment as a whole; staying with anything for a stretch of time will bring on stress and will likely make you want to quit at some point in time. But understand that you've got the potential to carry through it if you really set yourself to it.

My resolution? Write at least once for myself every day. Whether it's this blog or another one, fiction or whatever, I'm going to take time every day to do what's important to me. After all, it's hard to get published when you don't have anything written. ::grins::

Anyway, Happy New Year, Struck Lightning readers. Thanks for sticking around, and I'll see you in 2010.

-Josh

The Economics of Christmas

I wonder how much they're going to say the economy was "stimulated" by holiday spending. I'm not quite sure. But, truth be told, a whole lot less would be spent on the holiday if people would just wait until the day AFTER Christmas. You all know what I'm talking about: holiday price reduction sales. Now maybe you don't know that I'm an anti-holidite, but I consider myself almost legally opposed to holidays. I'm a pessimist, and I won't support the efforts of anyone or anything that tried to force me into "good will" or "cheer." Pish tosh.

Regardless, as I tramped the aisles of Wal-Mart today (three of them, in fact), I was blown away by the number of sales and price reductions. I mean, half off of all candy? Damn right I was all over it. I bought THREE Chocolate Oranges. Damned right, and just in time for my usual "I'm going to work out and lose weight" New Year's resolution. Fan-effin'-tastic. You know, there are some solid days to zero-in on...the Friday after Thanksgiving, the day after Christmas, and seemingly now EVERY weekend in between. As my economic background and empty wallet cry at me, I wonder if I could have done a little better if I'd kicked Christmas back a couple days...

Now, of course, I realize that for some of you the idea of pushing back "Christmas" to the 26th or even the 27th sounds like a blasphemy. But come on, what's the big deal? Unless you're a real big fan of the Winter Solstice, the date's completely arbitrary anyway. Jesus wasn't born on Dec. 25th and Joseph wasn't watching It's a Wonderful Life the night before. And that's all under the assumption that you even care about the religious connotations. Between the nonsense Old Navy commercials and catchy church marquee one-liners, everyone (along with their mothers) seems to want to tell you how/when to spend your Christmas.

At the end of the day, this "Christmas" thing is just about what you make it. For me, it's about hanging out with the family for a little bit and eating some food, a sort of Late Winter Thanksgiving. I could care less when it happens, and sometimes I think it'd be better for everyone if we just the gifting part of Christmas. The presents don't hurt sometimes, but I'd rather get gag gifts then go through the awkward "Wow, that was expensive but I don't really like it," or the infamous "Damn, you actually though I'd like this ______." Still, rants like this remind me of one of the best Christmas gifts I ever received: a gift-wrapped photocopy of an essay about happiness. The act of the gift itself, as well as the essay, changed me in ways I can't even describe. And that gift cost her virtually nothing. Unless it's copyrighted, in which case I hope she's already masked her identity, shredded her credit cards, and moved to a non-extradition country. Copyright infringement's a big deal, don'cha know.

So, at the end of the day, what's it matter how this whole "holiday season" is done, particularly Christmas? I know I just talked shit about those churches and commercials telling you what to do, but now I'm gonna eat my words and do it myself. If it makes you feel better, go ahead and do the whole deal on the 25th. Or, save a few bucks by buying your tree the night before and the decorations the day after. Take that extra cash and get brand-name butter for the rolls. At the end of the day, make sure that ALL your holidays, Christmas, New Years, and all the others, are spent the best way you know how to do them. If it's spending time with your family, friends, or even just finding some peace and quiet in a hotel room, make them all count. Find your own happiness, because that's the real reason for the season. It's the reason for every season.

-Josh

Don't Call It A Comeback

Another semester through, and here I am writing in this damned thing again. Why, you might ask? Because I plan on bringing Struck Lightning back next semester.

"But Josh, how many half-assed projects are you going to start up and drop off like two-year olds at the babysitter?" That's an excellent question. One with a decently complicated answer.

I attempted NaNoWriMo, the 50K word writing competition, again this year, but did far worse than last year. 7,000 words. Pathetic. But I actually showed those 7,000 words (or at least a large part of them) to friends, and I feel like that's an accomplishment on its own. Regardless of the fact that my final word count was miserable at best, there's something about taking the effort to show my work that made me take myself more seriously as a writer...and I think other people were able to take my writing more seriously as well.

Time's gone on since November, and now I've come to a bit of a turning point in my life. I've got 3 classes, an internship working for a literary journal, and my creative undergraduate thesis. A lot to handle, but the further I get into the things I care about, the more satisfied I am with life. Still, I tend to get excited about things and then burn out. That's gotta stop. I know how to start projects, but now I've gotta learn how to stick with them.

Struck Lightning's starting up as a sign to you all that I'm ready to commit, to you and to my craft. It may just run as a written blog for a bit, but the audio will come back soon. And I'm going to make it the best I can. Hope you're up for the trip.

-Josh