A Couple of Reasons and Resolutions

A key scene in The Hobbit struck me--Gandalf is speaking to Bilbo, who is whining about leaving behind his books and his maps and his garden (and his hobbit-hole)--and Gandalf points out the window and says, "The world is not in your books or your maps.  It's out there."  Obviously, he's pointing out the window.

I keep saying that I want an adventure, at least to myself (and on occasion to others), but as often as I say that...I'm not entirely unlike our friend Mr. Baggins.  I'm overly fond of my books and I tend to be a homebody.  Probably because it's easier.  It's easier to do the less risky thing, which is to stay at home.

So Resolution the First: when given the opportunity, I will choose people over books.  Friends over film.  (Or better yet, film with friends.

Excuses--we all have them.  These days, I think I offer them to myself more often than I do anybody else.  For a while I've thought of them as good reasons for stopping myself from doing risky things, but I know that's a bit of a lie.  They're excuses.  They're avoidance.  And the biggest excuse I use in regard to lots of things is: "I'm a bit of a mess."

So Resolution the Second: any human creature is inevitably a bit of a mess.  But I'll try to sort myself out--my environment because I can be a bit of a slob and my actual self.

Since that second one will require more than a little work, I feel pretty good about only making these two goals this year.  We'll see how I do!