Pat Taub
Last week I polled women on the WOW Facebook page asking them to share their 2022 New Year’s resolutions. Their responses surprised me. I anticipated that the vast majority would offer the typical resolutions to diet and exercise, but these answers were in the minority. Most of the women, while concerned with self-improvement, highlighted their intention to meet the challenges posed by our new world order.
Here’s a sampling of how a few wise women are greeting 2022:
KAREN: I’m still pondering this. The way I used to think about making resolutions doesn’t seem relevant in our changing world. I feel the need to dig deeper and look more outward toward our universe and our world. I’m not quite sure what this means to me
ELAINE: I have goals and resolutions. The goals can be achieved this year. The resolutions are resolving to grow and are ongoing. Goals: read 52 books this year; have my guest room ready by May 1st; update my end-of-life documents; and do one kind act each day. My current resolutions are be a good neighbor; be outdoors every day; commit to better care of my health; brush my Great Pyrenees often; write daily; keep a clean house. All of these MUST be accomplished for various reasons. It will be fun.
JONI: Declutter with discernment to what is useful, enjoyable and fits in our space with room to grow.
LISA: Help get universal healthcare on the ballot in Maine!
Mainers organized in support of Universal Health Care for Maine
SALLY: I don’t do resolutions. I do revolutions! I am rebelling against my reclusive behaviors. I want to send positive energy.
PAULA: Get more involved in contacting legislators about the right for all to vote! Take care of me by taking time doing something artsy…..getting outside and moving each day.
Contacting elected officials towards enacting voting rights legislation
PAT: To conquer my political despair over our failed two-party system by getting involved with alternative progressive groups. To meditate regularly to calm myself, while upping my gratitude practice. I want to laugh more.
DEBI: I am really going to try to exercise a bit more and cut down on sugar—OMG, well as I said I’m going to try!
RENE: Offer grace to others and myself. We have all had some tough years.
MARY ANN: Keep growing!
MICHELE: To keep moving forward. Learning how to be balanced and centered often. Be a kinder more compassionate person. Banish the anxiety and fears that have plagued me all my life.
EMMA: I do intentions. I need a softer approach that gives me room to fluff up. I’m more apt to follow through. Personally: to journey toward more wholeness. Politically: to advocate for Wabanaki Sovereignty and the lessening of oppression and supremacy in White Culture by changing my ways and others via educational opportunities.
TONI: To rewrite my will–more of a goal than a resolution
RAINBOW: No New Year’s resolutions; only one day at a time, that’s all this old woman can handle. Happy day to all!
As the late bell hooks and Desmond Tutu preached: love and compassion offer hope in dark times; they are key to building community. If we each pledge to perform an act of kindness daily, we can bring light to the darkness, and move us towards a more just, caring world. Leonard Cohen echoes this sentiment:
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.
