Today we’re full of good intentions and promises- the familiar New Year’s resolutions. These are typically framed in terms of doing something to make oneself a better person. Lose weight. Exercise more. Stick to a budget. Get organized. But a resolution works just as well the other way. So this year, consider a firm pledge to not do something.
I’ll lead off.
I am never going to knit one of these dogs. It would take forever and even if it were finished, the best I could say is, “Hallelujah! it’s finished.” It would still be a crazy little knitted dog that I don’t want or need.
Why do I even have this book? That’s a good question. The honest answer- the book was free. The knit shop’s owner was clearing out stale inventory that even a markdown hadn’t budged. Maybe free would get the job done. It usually does.
I’m generally pretty immune to free. But this book captured my imagination. I wasn’t going to knit just one dog, I was going to work my way through- Airedale to Zuchon and make a whole kennel of knitted canines! Fortunately I came to my senses. The instructions were sobering. The requisite needles were the diameter of toothpicks to accommodate yarn akin to angel’s hair. And yet the best I could hope for was still a tiny knitted hound. The mismatch between effort and reward was coming into very clear focus.
That answer, ‘free’, is something worth contemplating. Just because something is free, doesn’t mean it is without costs. Don’t take for free what you wouldn’t willingly pay for- maybe not a lot, but at least something. Had I applied this discipline to the knit yourself a dog book, it would never have come home with me. It wouldn’t have taunted me for over a year- “I dare you to knit me.”
But the book is gone and only the lesson remains. Sometimes feeling just as good about what you’re not doing as what you are doing is not only okay, but inspired. What’s not worth your time? Loosen your collar. Go off-leash. Get out of the dog pound. This year, find your resolve ‘not to’.
Happy New Year!