A little resolve goes a long way

By Christy Nadalin
Posted 1/8/17

Everyone knows New Year's resolutions don't (or rarely) stick. I'd dig up the stats that show what percentage of resolutions are actually kept but I failed at my resolution to back up my …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Register to post events


If you'd like to post an event to our calendar, you can create a free account by clicking here.

Note that free accounts do not have access to our subscriber-only content.

Day pass subscribers

Are you a day pass subscriber who needs to log in? Click here to continue.


A little resolve goes a long way

Posted

Everyone knows New Year's resolutions don't (or rarely) stick. I'd dig up the stats that show what percentage of resolutions are actually kept but I failed at my resolution to back up my overly-general pronouncements with researched facts about 350 days ago. It's in the single digits—I remember that.

Still, that doesn't stop many of us from trying, year in and year out, to capitalize on that feeling of new possibility we get when we put holiday debauchery behind us and toss a dog-eared calendar in the recycling bin.

I think I probably made my first New Year's resolutions when I was about 10 or 12. I have no recollection of what those might have been—temperance was certainly not on my radar—probably something about cleaning my room or brushing my teeth every day, whether they needed it or not.

Whatever they were, I failed.

I know this because, like most people, my resolutions always failed. That is, until 2015.

In December, 2014 I made this pronouncement semi-publicly (on Facebook): "I am done with lofty and unattainable resolutions like "read Finnegan's Wake" and "do better." In the interest of resolutions that will get done, in 2015 I resolve to learn to count cards and always put the shopping cart back in the chute, even if it is raining and I've just been "audited" by the self-checker at Stop & Shop. Going for it."

I'm still working on the cards, but I have the shopping cart thing down.

I not only kept this resolution through 2015, I'm about to keep it through 2016 too.

If you are imagining you hear the sound of 100 deflating balloons right now, I am confident you aren't alone. But before you flip to the liquor ads, just bear with me for a few. At some point in 2014, it came to my attention that there are people who, without fail, return their shopping carts to the chute in the parking lot. Not news to most of you, I'm sure. Yes, I know there are signs in the lots, I think I read one a couple of decades ago. But I was, as often as not, one of those devil-may-care scofflaws who, despite being able-bodied and without an excuse of any kind, hopped in the car and slunk off, abandoning my cart on the yellow line. And yet, while I may be a jerk, I certainly don't intend to be one. So I decided then and there, that I would embrace my inner decency and stop that lazy nonsense.

And, in what might be the most anticlimactic climax you'll read all week, I did just that. Regardless, of weather, how busy I imagined I was, or how far away the closest chute was located. So what?

So….the rewards of such a small act have gone well beyond what you might imagine. Yes, you don't have that ding you might have gotten on your car from my cart blowing across the lot in a gust of wind, and your blood pressure didn't spike because when you pulled into that last spot in the lot it was already occupied by my cart. But selfishly, it's more than that. When you keep a resolution, however small, it gives you a sense of accomplishment that makes you think you can tackle the next one, and the next one. Bigger, better resolutions.

Shopping cart stewardship has helped me take greater control and ownership in other areas of my life as well. Believe it or not.

And when the resolution is one that calls for an uptick in consideration in your interactions with others, consciously or not, you default to more considerate behavior across the board. Like Newton's First Law of Motion, not being a jerk in one small way spreads like wildfire to other parts of your life—and consideration is something we could all use a little more of.

So think of a resolution that is achievable—something small but satisfying and well defined—and make 2017 the year you keep it. Good luck, a very Happy New Year, and I will see you around the 02809. What you won't see is me abandoning my cart—though I can't guarantee you won't see me sitting in my car watching one of my teenagers deal with it.

I did not resolve not to delegate.

Christy Nadalin is a Bristol resident and Editor of East Bay Life.

Christy Nadalin

2024 by East Bay Media Group

Barrington · Bristol · East Providence · Little Compton · Portsmouth · Tiverton · Warren · Westport
Meet our staff
Mike Rego

Mike Rego has worked at East Bay Newspapers since 2001, helping the company launch The Westport Shorelines. He soon after became a Sports Editor, spending the next 10-plus years in that role before taking over as editor of The East Providence Post in February of 2012. To contact Mike about The Post or to submit information, suggest story ideas or photo opportunities, etc. in East Providence, email mrego@eastbaymediagroup.com.