New Year, New You! (And New Me, Too)

Happy 2013, all!  Well, the holidays are done, but I have not forgotten my promise to keep up the updating every week.  I would have posted this on New Year’s Day, but I was a bit preoccupied with lugging a heavy desk around the back of my house and setting up my new desk (or, rather, providing moral support for those helping me to assemble my new desk—much love).

Actually, aside from Christmas, New Year’s may be my favorite holiday of the year.  The ability to let go of the past and start with a fresh slate is very appealing, and it is a constant reminder of something I fully believe, which is the idea that it is possible to change for the better.  This year, especially, I want to try and stick to my resolutions and become a better me.

One book in particular I find relevant to this idea of resolution is Bridget Jones’s Diary.  I’ll admit I watched the movie before I got a chance to read the book, and while I do enjoy the movie immensely (that “fight” between Hugh Grant and Colin Firth—come on, what’s funnier?), I loved reading the book even more.  I know that shouldn’t come as too much of a shock (English major, after all), but it’s true.  Bridget herself is, I feel, much stronger in the book than in the movie, and her journey is captured so perfectly that it is hard not to identify with her. 

I bring up Bridget Jones’s Diary, though, because she, too, makes New Year’s resolutions that she intends to keep.  In the beginning of the book, she has compiled a list of goals she has for the coming year, such as to stop smoking, to lose weight, to develop “Inner Poise,” etc.  The novel follows her progress throughout the year, and by the end, she has compiled a summary of what she has accomplished.  And you know what?  She only manages to keep one of her resolutions.

Does this make her a failure?  Absolutely not.  Quite the reverse, actually.  Not only does the reader see how far she has come throughout the book, but Bridget compliments herself on “an excellent year’s progress.”  The idea that Bridget is proud of herself, is doing something for herself to make herself better, is the whole point.  She is not doing this for anyone else, and the fact that she is happy with who she is despite her numerous faults speaks to her as a person.  (And I must say that another reason I liked the book better is because the romances are not emphasized as much as Bridget's personal growth.)

So I will say two things.  First, go read the book.  It’s really great.  And second, make resolutions for the new year.  Try to better yourself.  Make an effort to change the things you want to change.  Ultimately, though, at the end of it all, make sure that you are happy with yourself, knowing that you want to change for yourself and not for others.  That’s one of my resolutions, and I plan to stick to it. J

Happy New Year, all,

Shannon