Will the real resolution please stand up?

I’ve been having trouble with March.

My approach to this whole ‘one resolution a month’ enterprise has been intentionally casual.  I didn’t want to fence myself in with a pre-planned year.  I wanted to take advantage of my mood, external factors like work and family, and, you know, advice from Charlie Sheen. ‘Cause he seems to really have life in perspective.

Anyway, in my continued efforts to embrace spontaneity and stop over-planning my life, I’ve promised myself that I wouldn’t make any resolution decisions until right before each month is about to begin.   Problem is, it’s March 1st, and I still haven’t made a decision.  Unlike January and February, I’ve had no last minute ‘aha!’ moment, no gut feeling, to guide me.

It’s not that I haven’t been thinking about it.  Believe me, I have.

There is a conference room in my head full of Shelbies, and they have been discussing the March resolution ad nauseum for a few weeks now.

Student Shelby has been lobbying hard for the ‘finish your thesis’ resolution.
It’s true, I’ve given my self an April 1 deadline for submitting my first full draft to my adviser.  This means March should be a month filled with reading and writing about descriptive statistics and correlations.  Why not make that my resolution?

Foodie Shelby has been making a strong case for the ‘eat asparagus every day’ resolution.
Yes, that’s right.  I LOVE asparagus.  And March is asparagus season.   Some would say that I eat asparagus almost every day in March anyway.  I could play with different recipes and ways of cooking asparagus.  Soup, souffle, omelets, pastries, pastas – endless possibilities!  So why not make that my resolution?

Friend Shelby has been feeling quite out of touch with her network (see student Shelby above) so she wants me to write a meaningful e-mail/letter to a new friend every day.    I mean, I’m DYING to get my life back.

Frugal Shelby wants to start a money saving project.

Work Shelby wants to finish her summer conference proposals early.

Hiker Shelby wants to get outside and into the woods.

There are more Shelbies, but I think you get the picture.

One thing that the conference room has agreed on is that the March resolution needs to be easy.   While the committee has rejected making the thesis draft the resolution (just. not. fun. enough.), all agree that the thesis draft WILL happen in March and no new resolution blogging fun can interfere.

Without realizing it, I selected January and February resolutions (5 fruit and vegetable servings a day and no alcohol, respectively) which required no additional time in my schedule.  In fact, some would argue that not drinking actually saved me some time.   I haven’t been able to reproduce that schedule-wise brilliance, however.   Ugh.

I.

Must.

DECIDE!

So here it is:  STRETCHING!

Not part of the conference room discussion until very late in the month, Limber Shelby (she’s in there somewhere) launched an impressive late-February campaign which reached a frenzied pitch about the same time as the Academy Award hosts realized that they were NOT FUNNY.  It’s not terribly exciting, but stretching is good for you.  I’m sure it is.  (It is, isn’t it?).  And right this minute, I’ve decided it fits well with my goals for March and my goals for the year.  Here’s what I hope at least 15 minutes of stretching every day will do:

• Help me move my body daily which will keep me energized for, that’s right, the thesis.  Coming soon to a theater near you.
• Improve flexibility in preparation for spring/summer hiking season.  I’m going backpacking as soon as this damn thesis is done, thank you very much.
• Facilitate the overriding goal of 2011 – fully embrace the moment of transition.   I am still having trouble getting up in the morning.  Embracing that transition is harder than it sounds.  I wonder, could that have anything to do with MY THESIS?

Ok, I think the real reason I need to stretch every day is because I need to give myself 15 minutes, AT THE LEAST, to nurture my body and rest my mind.  I need to tell the conference room to take a break, give it a rest, STFU – so I can recharge and make this one last push.

I can do it!