This New Year Propose, Don’t Resolve

In Spanish we don’t make New Year’s resolutions, we make propositions, and that just seems like a much healthier way to go about it. There’s no such thing as a resolución de año nuevo, but there are propósitos.

Resolutions sound so final, so formal, so  uptight. “Be it resolved…” is something people say in period movies, wearing a powdered wig. A propósito de año nuevo is a negotiation, a goal, a throw of the dice. I think that’s why New Year’s resolutions never really pan out. They feel like a burden, a weight that we’ve strapped on our own backs and that we carry with steely-eyed determination…for about a month.  A propósito is closer to an intention, without the heaviness.

Truth is, life’s ride doesn’t come with reference letters or guarantees, so you can’t really resolve it, like a problem or a dispute — that’s just a wrong-headed way to go about it. It does, though, come with twists and bumps and lots of mess and times to rest and the occasional downhill run with the wind in your face.

So we can propose, with that in mind: to keep putting one foot in front of the other (that minimizes the chances of sticking one in your mouth); to remember that “cada cabeza es un mundo” and that everyone is doing the best that they can with what they have;  that if I shed some pounds or exercise more or quit a nasty habit, it’s not because I’m bad if I don’t, but because its a generally good idea if I do; that the road I’ve walked is enough to gain my self respect; that I have no idea what the next 12 months will bring and the best that I can do is to be open to that mystery; and to remember that nothing is permanent.

It would also be a good idea to eat less cheeseburgers and to remember to use my turn blinkers and watch my speed on the highway — and to try to be less distracted (if you think about it, the latter would resolve some of the former). I’ve lived long enough to know that this is not a race, if it were we’d all be running in the same direction. If anything, it’s inevitable.

With that in mind, we’re about to launch another 12-month cycle of the Gregorian calendar; as good a time as any to stop, at least for a moment, to reset and propose (if you follow the Mayan calendar you’re allowed to hold your breath on the 21st day of the twelfth month of the Gregorian count — something big is supposed to happen that day, or not).  If you have any year-end rituals — like eating twelve grapes at midnight or sweeping the front door threshold, or whatever — have at it. Oh, and if you celebrate the New Year with drink, please don’t drive; you  really are drunker than you think, and we’d like to have you around the NewsTaco family for another 12.

¡Feliz Año Nuevo! …salud, dinero, amor y tiempo para disfrutarlos.