Resolving to Resolve.

New Years Resolutions. Honestly, not this girl's cup of proverbial tea. With the daunting task of setting resolutions this year, I realized that setting goals is something entirely different than resolving to do--or not do--something. From a very young age I remember feeling goal oriented. If there was something I knew I was working towards, it became a knock out. However, resolving leaves me with a bitter taste in my mouth. Something about the finality or heaviness of leaving something behind has always seemed like the only thing I can ever summon my brain to picture when New Years Eve hits. This year, I've decided to break the chain of pessimism I have towards resolutions by resolving to do something that I love...more.

But why books?

Anyone that holds any true place in my daily life knows that I am filled with a severe lust for books. Reading anything and everything I’ve been able to get my hands on, for well, forever. A very opinionated eight year old, I declared to my Gammy that I had announced Richard Peck as my favorite author. I’ll never forget the look on my Great Aunts’ faces when they told me that I was the youngest child they knew who could not only pick out their favorite genre, but that I thought I knew who did it best. Being raised in a house where we read books before bedtime, books were always the favorite Christmas or Birthday gift, library trips were encouraged and frequent, and having a mother who could do a killer witch cackle while reading has truly been what I believe shaped me into being a Reader. So naturally, I connected my resolution to form a resolution to my first true love, books.

One of my favorite parts of teaching reading workshop is getting to share my love of what I’ve read with people that I may not normally have such conversations with. Whether it is my student, a colleague, an administrator, or a parent, I’m in the absolute best culture to cultivate readers and fill my reader heart with richness.  So I’ve decided to take book talking beyond my normal realm. Having almost 1,500 “friends” on Facebook will finally be a great advantage, because it is their recommendations and favorite books along with those of family and strangers that are going to help me meet my goal of reading 150 books in the year 2015. 

Anyone who has ever snuggled under a cozy blanket and found comfort and pleasure in an evening of reading a book knows what I’m talking about. Reading for me is all encompassing, the fail-safe soother and balm to pains and strains of daily life. Whether I read fiction, non-fiction, or a bridal magazine, I am transported out of my normal anxious and worrisome nature and transfixed in something or somewhere else entirely. How freeing it is to be liberated by words so fully, so often. In addition to having a full heart and wise mind, reading triggers long lasting neurological effects in your cognition…really….Google it! Being able to build meaningful relationships with others around my favorite thing to do is truly what I am looking forward to the most in this journey. Because when someone shares with me their favorite book,  I feel as though I have been entrusted with real treasure.

Follow me to the road of enlightenment this year. Here’s to 2015 and book #1 of 150.