Hello!

And happy holidays from frigid New York. It’s been quite some time since I’ve “na mer ste’d” in more ways than one. My apologies for the break. I would like to share all of my updates, but as my mother says, you shouldn’t put everything up online. Wise words!

So, is it too early to discuss New Year’s resolutions? (This question is directed at every store who played holiday music before Thanksgiving was over). How many times can we hear “Baby It’s Cold Outside,” before storming off? Side note, in today’s climate I think we should all give this song a real hard listen to. This woman is clearly trying to make a clean and fast getaway. Red flag.

And with that short outburst of emotion comes my resolution.

Ever since I was about two years old my dad called me Bruce Banner. It’s not because of anything cute, like having monstrous green eyes, or that my shirts would always rip (I had some serious baby weight), but because I was always getting so angry. I would run around our house biting my twin brother (who apparently was an angel), and yell phrases such as “me so angry.” Though clearly I was always a phenomenal communicator, it wasn’t good. Yet, for reasons unknown, they decided to keep me.

Though now I’m more playfully coined, "the Mighty," I still tend to have very strong reactions which cause me a lot of stress. One second I’m at work getting ready to leave and the next my plans get cancelled last minute and… “what’s happening, must control….”

And well Hulk Smash. In fact here would be some non-personal completely arbitrary examples of over-reacting:

-If someone on 125th street decides that it is appropriate to tell you, “you’re thick,” and you casually drop lines to the Trader Joes cashier stating, “I shouldn’t buy this cookie, didn’t you hear? I’m thick!” He did not appreciate the self-deprecating humor. 

-When you turn 26 and you get kicked off of your family’s health insurance so you decide to spend the rest of the day walking around your office stating 26 is the devil’s number.

-When your roommate’s girlfriend gives you the gift of a scale this holiday season moments after your thanksgiving meal so you get her out of bed to weigh her dang self to see if the scale is right.

And while none of these were things I personally have done, they are clearly a heat-of the moment reaction. Not healthy. And none of them resulted in much progress at all. I was still up some pounds, I wasn’t getting any younger, and well, actually, I hear “thick” is good nowadays so kudos to me...I mean, this person.

Sometimes life throws things in your way; things you can’t control. And instead of getting angry at it, you can choose instead to follow the wise words of a song I learned when I was younger which says: “can’t go around it, can’t go under it, let’s go through it.” Though the song was disturbingly about a bear hunt, I think the advice still applies.

So, instead of getting angry at the things we can’t control, I invite you to join me in reversing negative thoughts to have more positive reactions. This is my resolution. This applies to thinking negatively about yourself, your situation, and the world around you. Though it’s easier to react, I invite you to take the extra step and work hard to catch the negativity. It is only then that we can transform it into something else.

So no, I guess I don’t believe in the classic resolution of New Year, new you. To me, the wording suggests that we should change everything about ourselves, even the wonderful flaws that make us, well, us. Instead, I invite you to join my resolution; New Year, same you. Just a little wiser.

                                                    -na Mer ste-