They are all around me: people signing up for road races, joining gyms, people deciding to “be the change they want to see.”  People are pouring out every bottle of alcohol or ridding their cabinets of anything “white” or “processed” or deemed unhealthy on the cover of Prevention Magazine. Mom’s are declaring that this – this – will be the year that they will truly appreciate each and every moment with their perfectly perfect children, that they will make Pinterest inspired crafts and only say something if they can say something nice.

*sigh*

It’s New Years and I do not do resolutions. If I did they would probably be of the practical nature and made in the full awareness that I would fail, within the week, at holding myself to them.

For example, I could say: I vow to actually use each Groupon that I purchase on a whim (and then forget about until after it has expired.)

or,

I vow to clean the counters before I go to bed every night and to wear jeans around the house, even when I am not going anywhere and yoga pants or sweats are calling my name.

See, I could easily write out a list of all of the things I ought to be doing better or mindsets I ought to be better about having.

It’s just that in looking back over the years at my efforts and attempts to be my best possible self, it’s hard to not also see the daily (DAILY) ways I have missed the mark, yelled too much, gone to bed with dishes in the sink and teeth unbrushed, forgotten lunches on the counter or gone the wrong way when I’m already running late (because I have the directional skills of a blindfolded toddler on sugar.)

I guess, I’ve just come to the conclusion that it’s easier to accept life as it comes, accept myself as I am and laugh at both.

Don’t get me wrong, I think resolutions can be a fantastic thing to do, if they motivate you and you enjoy them. I just see a list of must’s and cannot’s and might wind up dreading the new year more than appreciating the blank slate that’s before me.

What will 2013 hold? Most likely, I’ll be enjoying my job, loving my family, making memories, and probably taking about a thousand photographs (of my children alone.)

What won’t 2013 hold? Me, trying to get myself into the shape of a Barbie Doll, while keeping house like Martha Stewart and raising my children according to Parent’s Magazine. (All of which, I’m okay with.)

{Full disclosure, to all of the folks in my social media world, whilst reading all of your beautiful, challenging, do-better, live-healthier, statuses, I was nibbling on my first two bites of the New Year. They were Russell Stover chocolates and they were worth-the 150 calories and 7 grams of fat, delicious.}

Happy New Year!