Resolutions

I've never been one to make hard and fast New Year's resolutions and I'm definitely not one to believe that just because we've got a new calendar year on our hands that means everything is going to miraculously change for the better.  I know how the world works, or at least I know how it doesn't work.  Having said that, there are a few things I know I want to do differently in 2011.


More and better sleep: I haven't been sleeping enough and have returned to the inverted body schedule of my college days wherein I stay awake like the night owl I am until quite late then get up at O-DARK-THIRTY to get my kids off to school.  The only saving grace in this equation has been the last three weeks of sheer bliss called Winter Break.  Thankfully my children are programmed just like me so we've all been reveling in Mr. Sandman's sleep-in schedule.   Even Phil is finding sleeping (ok, napping) to be a current favorite pastime.  Prior to having cancer he'd be the first man up in the morning and the first one to bed (early to rise, early to bed) but in point of fact, on any given afternoon, either one or both of us can be found napping on the couch!  It seems that a major consequence of cancer, brain surgery, and all the attendant stress is sleeplessness and insomnia - go figure.


Exercise: We joined the YMCA and they have a Masters swim team which actually meets during the day at a reasonable time ~ not at O-DARK-THIRTY and not so late in the evening that I'll be so hopped up after exercising that my sleeplessness will worsen.  Having yet to join them I can't say what kind of quality I will find but it will be a vast improvement over the ZERO laps I have swam since leaving the OAC Masters team in WA.  My body aches all the time, I have no physical source of stress release, my shoulders clunk when I roll over to sleep and I feel lethargic 24/7.  Just do it.


Perspective and balance: Seems I try to regain this all the time.  Having been laid low and humbled by all that's been placed in my path I know that maintaining perspective and balance is just about the whole ballgame.  When I get overwhelmed it is usually because I have 1) lost my focus or have 2) become too focused on the minutia or have 3) taken on too much emotionally and psychologically.  As a mother, a woman (read "multi-tasker") and as a Lehmann (read "a compulsive") it is my natural tendency to over-think and over-analyze at times and in a situation as wrought with opportunities for processing and analysis, well, you can imagine.


So, no resolutions per se, just some good old fashioned goals and things to strive for.  I consider them prayer requests actually.   Because along with these goals I'll still be trying to shape the character of my kids, to help them understand along with me what is happening with their Dad, to tend to Phil's evolving physical, emotional and spiritual needs, to make sure homework is done, get to baseball and self defense, cook nutritious meals, keep clothes clean, model Godliness (!), have some fun and not lose my mind.  Yes, prayer requests indeed.