New Year's Resolutions

So here we are, in the dying hours of 2007. It's that time when our thoughts turn to New Year Resolutions, our annual attempt to deceive ourselves into believing that we can actually change our lives. In reality, of course, after only a token attempt at sticking to our resolutions, we find some excuse to abandon them and return to our old routines. The truth is that we like those old routines, they work for us and if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Consequently, I tend to try and avoid making resolutions at this time of year. However, for the purposes of this post I'm prepared to float a few ideas which might just improve my life in the coming year - if I were to resolve to act upon them. Not that they actually constitute resolutions, as such, you understand. Anyway, getting to the point, the most significant thing I could do next year would be to completely give up on love and romance. Now, this isn't the curmudgeonly whingeings of someone rejected in love. I'm quite serious. I have a bad habit of putting myself through hell pursuing hopeless relationships with members of the opposite sex who barely register my romantic interest in them on their emotional radar. If could just give up on any possibility of romance, then I'd be a lot happier, and would be able to devote all the energy I waste on unrequited love to more constructive activities.

Following on from that idea, I should also try to be happy with my lot. I seem to spend a lot of time thinking that I'm somehow not living my life the right way, that I'm missing something. It's a malady a lot of people seem to suffer from - the belief that everyone else is having a better time than them. The truth, of course, is that they aren't. We're all in the same boat, sailing on the same sea of mediocrity. I really should also have more confidence in my own abilities. No matter how many degrees and letters after my name I have, I still have this nagging feeling that it's all a mistake and that I'm going to get found out. Again, I'm sure a lot of other people suffer from the same delusion. What else should I do? Be less cynical? Learn to like Russell Brand, perhaps? As it seems inevitable that he'll be all over the papers and TV again next year, my life would be a lot easier if I didn't fly into an apoplectic rage every time I see him. Of course, there are also things I'd like to see other people do which would improve my life. Less reality TV, for instance. And fewer of those bloody 'talent' contests which produce boring middle of the road ballad singers. Less opinion, more news in the media. Not that any of that will happen, any more than I'll sort my own life out. Like I said before, the status quo, for all its faults, is comfortable and familiar. Changing would risk entering a scary and unfamiliar new world, full of disturbing new challenges and situations. Screw that! I prefer the insecurities I know! Happy New Year!