Keep It!

By Elaine Viets

　

I can’t find a treadmill at the gym today. The place is packed with sweaty sufferers, flogging themselves in fat church.

By February I’ll have that same gym to myself. 

Why?

Because by then my neighbors will have broken their New Year’s resolutions to exercise more.

Exercise is boring – so are most New Year’s resolutions. But you can keep  them sometimes. Let me tell you about a resolution Don and I made two years ago, and still keep.

My husband and I are both writers. Don is a reporter for the group of South Florida newspapers owned by the Chicago Tribune. I write two mysteries a year for Penguin in New York.

Don covers night meetings and works most weekends. His major deadline is Tuesday. In theory he has two days off each week. In fact, he can rarely take them.

My writing isn’t a nine-to-five job, either. We love our work, but it wears us down.

We agreed we needed two vacations a year. Short, relaxing  trips.

We made reservations at a cute hotel in Key Largo, Florida, an easy 90 minute drive from our home. We cut ourselves off from all work: no phones, no computers, iPads, or e-mail. We negotiated weeks in advance with our editors so there were no surprise last-minute assignments.

 For five days, we sat on the beach, read mysteries, and ate fish caught that morning by locals. The beer was cold and the Key Lime pie authentic. I went snorkeling and took boat tours. We watched the sunsets and slept through the sunrises.

Only two people knew where to reach us, and they had to call the hotel. Our cell phones stayed off.

We’ve had grander vacations, but none as relaxing. To make sure we kept our resolution, we made reservations for the next vacation in six months when we checked out.

We’ve kept that resolution ever since. We have confirmed reservations for June 2014.    

What are your New Year’s successes?

Comments

[StorytellerMary]

Wonderful resolution! Two storytelling friends, busy and seldom telling at the same event, schedule "together time" on both their calendars at the beginning of the year, and neither will take a job on those days. Time to relax is vital.
A friend yesterday rattled off a long list of resolutions, overwhelming really . . . I wish her luck with it. Then I said, "I think I'll finish that sweater I started five years ago . . . yeah, that would be good." . . . and I did suggest that she take time for fun between the items on her list.
Wishing you a very good year.

[plus.google.com/111109058677349463456]

My most successful resolution was to give to charities. Every month since then (for about 3 or 4 years), I've made a donation to a cause I believe in. And each year I also get a little reward from the IRS for doing this. I'm hoping this year's resolution to improve my stress management practices is just as successful.

[Elaine Viets]

You hit it, Mary -- don't forget to have fun. And good luck with that sweater. I'm surprised you haven't finished it yet, since storytells are good with yarns.

[Elaine Viets]

Impressive, Long-number person. Many of us say we're going to donate more to charity, but you actually do it. Congratulations. Hope the stress management is equally successful.

[Charlaine Harris]

After several experiences of disappointing myself, I quit making New Year's resolutions, and I am much happier as a consequence. Your two short trips a year with no cell phones sounds delightful.

[Elaine Viets]

Resolving not to make resolutions is a good approach, Charlaine. and one you can keep.

[Marcia Talley]

I love it that you make time for yourselves and each other with no interruptions. I've made no resolutions this year because I never seem able to keep them.

[Elaine Viets]

Another woman who knows herself.

[Alan Portman]

Years ago, in the pre-cellphone days, I worked for someone who routinely called people in when they were on vacation. I took a week long bicycle trip. From 6:00 am until about 2:00 pm I was somewhere on a country road in Missouri on my bike. After 2, I would be in some of the finest high school or junior college gyms in the state.

When the boss asked how to reach me, I told him my father had access to the route map and a helicopter could be sent. Boss was not happy.

[Elaine Viets]

Good for you, Alan. I worked for similar bosses, but wimped it and called in. I wish I'd had your guts back then.

[Dana Cameron]

Brava, Elaine! We've learned to schedule our vacations at the beginning of the year, so we make sure to give our brains a rest.

[Elaine Viets]

A good time to be out of the cold Northeast, too, Dana.