"Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow"

"...Creeps in it's petty pace from day to day, to the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death.  Out out brief candle!  Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more.  It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury; Signifying nothing."

This was one of the Shakespeare quotes that my high school english teacher had us memorize.  It's nice and dark.  It sometimes comes into my mind while I am washing dishes, or reading Christmas cards (you know the kind don't you?), or while folding the laundry (also "Out out damned spot" is a good one for the laundry).  January is the time for reflection on the past and looking forward with hope to the future.  In our family we have a tradition that is hanging on by a thread.  We like to make predictions for the coming year and then we stash them in a box.  Then on New Year's Day the following year we open the box and see how accurate we were.  Then we predict (or make goals) for the next year.  The problem is that sometimes (like this year), we can't find our prediction box...  I predict that next year we won't have any predictions if we don't find that box soon.

It always seems that my predictions are (predictably) about getting in better shape.  I would also like to read more and have more peace in our home.  We'll see if any of that happens.  I can really relate to Shakespeare's line in the quote above about strutting and fretting our hour upon the stage.  Why do we put so much pressure on ourselves to achieve something big every January?  It makes the month of January a bit of a downer for me.  Why not make January a month of looking back at what you did do the previous year and give yourself a nice pat on the back or a cheeseburger at Five Guys?  To say "I made it this year" "I am still here!"  "I may not be perfect but none of us is perfect and that is OK!"

For Christmas this year we got a movie I am adoring more and more each time a watch 5-10 minutes of it here and there.  We all know I can't sit down and waste time watching an entire movie downstairs with the kids.  My TV watching is limited to the times when I have to fold laundry.  Maybe that should be my resolution for this year, to sit back and relax more with my kids and let the laundry and housework wait.  Anyways, back to my point which was the movie I am loving... It's Fantastic Mr Fox and there is some interesting and confusing symbolism in it.  I am still trying to figure out the scene where he waves to the Wolf.  There is a running theme that we shouldn't have to live up to what others (or even we) expect of ourselves.  There is also the theme that no matter what we try to be underneath we are all just what we were meant to be "wild" or "different."

So we can make goals of course, but let's be realistic.  Most of us look exactly the same in the Christmas card photo year after year.  Most of us should just focus on learning to be content with the money we make, the achievements we have done thus far, the people we have helped along the way.  Let's just focus on being content this year.  That is my goal... BTW my arms hurt today from starting off the first Monday of the year with some good effort at my Pilates on the Ball with Lizbeth Garcia.  Happy New Year!