January 14th, 2015 
Well, it’s that time again! It’s almost January 1st, and you know what that means! It’s time for millions of people to do that cliche thing they call setting New Year’s Resolutions. The title of this post may be slightly misleading; I am not against the practice of setting yearly goals. The word “resolution” in this context is about as disturbing to me as the word “moist.” A shiver goes up my spine when I hear it or read it. It’s a loaded word, full of pressure and intentions that are often not completely realistic or manageable.
I’m not saying people shouldn’t set goals for themselves, and the turn of the year is as good of a time as any to start doing something–but the hype of it all is what irks me. All we hear on television are ads related to setting resolutions and trying to sell a product that will help a consumer achieve their chosen task for the year. Businesses take advantage of this need for people to start fresh. I look at it as a psychological sales tactic that prays on a person’s vulnerabilities.
Roughly 8% of resolution setters actually stick to their resolutions. That’s not a very high percentage, is it? I guess the other resolution setters just bought a bunch of stuff they didn’t need by watching those commercials. Yikes.
I know, we are only human and it can be really hard to keep working at a long term goal.
Like I said, I’m not telling anyone they shouldn’t aspire to do something to improve their life or make themselves happy. But I think as a society, in order to improve the success rate of this yearly fad, we need to approach and think of the resolution thing differently. We need to not just decide to do something; we need to have a better plan of attack.
First, let’s get rid of the word “resolution” altogether. Put it out of your mind. Throw it in the trash. Unless you are talking about screen resolution, this word no longer exists.
So, what word or words can you use instead?
Use whatever makes what you want to do sound less weighted down. You can call it something simple, like refer to it as this year’s goal, or you can choose to be more creative. Maybe you can give your desired task a title. If your goal is to live a healthier lifestyle, you could title it something like “My Yellow Brick Road to Personal Health.”
I admit that one might be cheesy, but I had to come up with something fast!
You want to feel inspired by what you’re doing and motivated to get to your end result. Does the word “resolution” do that for you?
Next, ask yourself if your aspiration is attainable. Does it fit in and work with your lifestyle? For instance, if you work two jobs seven days a week, reading three books a week may not be the most attainable goal. One book may be a better choice, or even backing it down a bit further to a couple of books per month. The important thing is you don’t want to push yourself so hard that you feel stressed out. Burnout will not help you achieve what you want to do.
Be realistic and honest with yourself about your abilities and schedule.
Last of all you will want to keep track of your progress on a regular basis. If your quest is to save more money, keep a spreadsheet of the amount of money you are saving weekly or monthly. You could even turn the data into a graph to create a more effective visual. Seeing your results unfold before you is a huge motivator. Lists are another great tool. Both are ways you can more easily monitor yourself and keep your momentum going.
You might have more than just one objective you intend to take on in the coming year. Try not to let yourself get overwhelmed by them in the coming weeks. When you are thinking about your objectives, take a few minutes for each one and write in a journal or document all the steps you need to take to make these things happen for you. Break them down into smaller bits. It will help to keep you moving forward. Nobody likes to be overwhelmed!
I have been contemplating the goals I want to set for myself for the upcoming year, but I haven’t quite planned everything out specifically. My one main objective is to grow my blog. I had a big setback the past couple of weeks with being sick and then it was Christmas. I am trying to get back into the swing of things, but it’s a bit slow going at the moment. Sometimes life happens, and there isn’t much we can do about it. All in all, I’m not too worried about getting the ball rolling again!
Otherwise, my buzzword of the upcoming year is “creativity.” I find myself thinking up more projects I want to try, and ideas I want to experiment with. I think 2015 will be an interesting year!
What do you aspire to do in 2015? I want to know! Share them in the comments below!
Happy New Year!
Hi! The nickname is T! Color lover. Food lover. Book lover. Tech lover. Fashion lover. Knowledge lover. I am just a Midwestern gal with a colorful range of likes and views! :)
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Sticking up for one’s rights, or the rights of a specific group of people is an important way to encourage change. There are many ways society advocates for different things; person to person dialogue, media commentary, writing to the proper representatives, protests, campaigns, lobbying, or–as hopefully only a last resort, a lawsuit. All of these can be done in a peaceful way, but certain methods can leave a bad taste in someone’s mouth.
I am a strong supporter of advocacy. I am a woman who is physically challenged, and I live in a rural community where not everything is necessarily the most user friendly to suit my needs. Most issues I have are minor; store racks being a little too close together, uneven curb cuts, door thresholds not being easy to drive over in a power wheelchair, and my ultimate pet peeve; restaurants or bars having only the tall tables in the most accessible areas. These things I consider to be relatively minor annoyances but easily remedied or dealt with.
All it takes is to ask for a little help or talk to someone if I am having a problem, and that’s it. Usually help is given and the other party, if they own the business or building I am in, hopefully are more aware of something they may have not noticed before. These issues really aren’t worth getting in too big of a tizzy about in the grand scheme of things.
I know there are more serious situations out there–problems that make us feel unequal and are severe violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Luckily I haven’t really had to deal with many of the big ones…aside from the obvious: stairs.
Some might think of me as maybe a bit too complacent; I just think of myself a realist. There are certain things in life I choose not to dwell on because in reality, these certain things don’t have that big of an impact on my daily life and the smaller snags don’t prevent me from doing things. I can utilize that time and energy on something more fun than getting pissed off at a clothing rack that got caught on my chair tire.
Story Time
Let me preface the next bit of this post by saying I am trying to explain the following situation without being too specific about location or names. I’m not trying to call out anyone involved on the internet. This story could happen in any community. Nevertheless, the following events bother me and that is why I chose to write about it.
Recently, in the rural town I live in, the newspaper released a story about three local businesses that had lawsuits filed against them by two local residents for not being in compliance with the ADA. Keep in mind, two of the businesses are in buildings downtown, which are pretty old. I am not saying that old buildings should be exempt from being accessible due to their age, but I know some buildings are not structurally equipped to be adapted in a way that is cost effective to the owner of that building. The businesses in the older buildings downtown are a restaurant and an antique shop. The third small business is an animal supply store.
The violations consisted of barriers like blocked or inaccessible doorways and a non ADA compliant bathroom at the animal supply store. Potential penalties to these businesses include the awarding of civil penalties to the plaintiffs, payment of court costs, and injunctions to fix the alleged barriers mentioned.
The lawyer representing the plaintiffs in these civil suits has been involved in over two dozen other similar cases throughout the state, representing individuals with disabilities. The lawyer and these clients are all members of a certain nonprofit advocacy board registered under the representing attorney’s law firm.
Most of the people involved in the cases documented in that particular story couldn’t be reached for comment or declined.
There was another article in a larger newspaper which talked about a clinic owner in the metro area who had also been victim of a lawsuit by someone on the same advocacy board with the same lawyer. This article contained more details about the case against the antique store owner in my town as well.
I have to say, I am pretty disheartened at the lengths some people go in the name of being an advocate.
This shit bugs me because lawsuits should never be a first resort. Both articles make it seem as if lawsuits were simply filed without any other attempt at resolution. Did the plaintiffs talk to the business owners to bring the barriers to their attention? Was there a respectful dialogue made between parties? Did any of the owners say they absolutely could not change a damn thing? If so, what were the reasons?
Then I also wonder, is the lawyer taking advantage and pushing these clients to file lawsuits?
The owner of the antique store is a woman in her mid 80’s, a widow, and she maybe sells fifty dollars worth of merchandise a day. This is what the one article stated. Her store is part of her livelihood, and it makes me sick to think someone lacked so much compassion in this situation that they are attacking a lady who is beyond retirement age. Yes, maybe there was a barrier in the store. But to sue her over it is just wrong.
Also, do the plaintiffs receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI)? If so, don’t they know what it feels like to be strapped financially? If they work full time and earn income, great for them. However, have a little humanity and think about other people’s circumstances as well. Think about the least mentally and financially taxing solution possible that will still promote positive change.
Luckily, that particular lawsuit had a dismissal agreement. The others, I’m not sure.
I would love for everything to be completely accessible. I hope that one day other people like me with disabilities will be seen as citizens who are completely equal in society. Unfortunately, we have a long time to wait before either of those things happen. So, in the meantime we need to set an example of advocating with class.
To sue without trying other means to resolve an issue is a really crappy way to advocate for anyone or anything. It gives advocacy a bad name. Also, it reflects badly on all people with disabilities. I don’t want to go into a local store and make the business owners here feel nervous that I will be the next person trying to sue them.
Getting money from someone under the guise of fighting for civil rights isn’t a fix all. It’s not even a band-aid. Getting people to discuss things like an adult and explore solutions is the only way to begin making real progress. I only hope more “advocates” will stop, think, and find some compassion before taking the most extreme route to achieve results.
What kinds of situations have you faced in which you advocated for yourself or another person? How did you handle it?