Life exists between the said and unsaid, read and unread, and thoughts that stay and those that fly away. This is the real constant and we are all somewhere in between but forever believing that we are on one or the other shore. This is one reason why I consider resolutions in life so full of comical ambiguities.

Resolutions, quite unlike the gym-imbued firmness in the word itself, have the flexibility of an acrobat touching both the tip and the toe before truth even blinks an eye. They let you fly high one moment and then swoop down fast to ground you. This is the real distance between saying and doing. Soon enough another year goes by with you still hanging loose between the tip and the toe of all that you said and what remained unsaid.

‘Come on, you’re being unjust with resolutions,’ said Specky, my wife, on the first day of this year as she resolutely sat down to write a few that she intended to follow.

I said, ‘Don’t bother. Just look at some of the words hidden inside ‘resolutions’ and you will understand why it makes me laugh. Looniest. Outsnores. Rootless. Lousiest. Neurosis. Outlines. Surliest. Silent. Outsins. Nutsier. Unrests. Inert. Unties. Unless. Rusts. This word is evil.’

Resolutions are comically wicked and wickedly comical...

Resolutions are comically wicked and wickedly comical…

She gave me a stern look and said, ‘You’re deliberately missing out SOLUTIONS. It is in-built in the word and is sublimely precise and mathematical.’

‘Ah!’ I replied, ‘Notice the RE- that needs to be added to solutions. Life will be giddy and unsteady if you keep solving the same problem repeatedly. Come on, be adventurous. Go looking for fresh problems to solve.’

I believe that the word RESOLUTION was created with the express purpose of giving humans some target practice in lampooning. It has no relation with how the year goes by. I remember the year when Specky resolved to write more, we travelled more. The year she resolved to cook exotic dishes, eating out became trendy. The resolution cookie invariably crumbled.

Frankly, I think resolutions come with the evil intent of a villainous joker. Resolutions want us all to keep going round in circles. This is almost like a dog or a cat chasing its tail. I’ve read somewhere that when animals do this they are diagnosed as being under stress. I’m definitely neither a cat nor a dog and under no duress. I live a life that embraces the unexpected, loves the usual, and chases every new thought that comes near me if and when I wish to. I am the Lord of my own unshackled moments. I have nothing to do with some ONEROUS LIST or some whining NEUROSIS LOT… these last set of words in caps are complete anagrams of RESOLUTIONS and I have included them so you know wickedly comical the word really is.

So now I get up each morning and tell myself, ‘I do not resolve but I will try to finish one post today.’ I call this The Right Approach.

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Post written on the prompt: Gone with the wind – What I say and what I actually do when I make resolutions every year!

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Arvind Passey
16 January 2019