chinese new year
For the first time in many years we are not doing anything for Chinese new year. Usually we make lots of food and invite friends overs. This year, because we’re trying to get the house ready to put on the market, we’re not doing it. Half our cooking implements are in storage, and the house is too clean for massive cooking and partying. I guess one thing that we did do this year that we’ve never done before is do a crazy cleaning and purging of house and stuff. It wasn’t expressly in preparation for the new year, but the timing was right. So in a way, I can tell myself that we did something for new year’s.
I’ve also made 3 resolutions for myself. American tradition, but I’m going to attach it to the Chinese new year. One is to enjoy myself, and don’t do stuff that makes me unhappy. Mostly, I don’t think that this has to change my behavior much, just my outlook. I don’t do that much stuff that I don’t want in the first place, which is probably why a lot of the things I’m unhappy about exist for me. Which leads me to the second, which is to make myself do more things that I don’t want to do. This might seem contradictory to the first resolution, but I don’t think it has to be. If I don’t think of the things that I don’t want to do as things I don’t want to do, then they’re not so bad. And usually they don’t take that long or that much energy. I’m starting off with small things every day, like putting things where they belong. The third thing is to keep my mouth shut, and to have a good reason for opening it. Baby steps on that one too, but I think that even small strides for these three things will go a long way in the pretend happiness project that I’ve launched.