Avanti!

Resolutions from Bridget Jones' Diary (2001)

Instead of coming up with New Year's resolutions that I know I won't keep, ensued by a not so surprising sting of disappointment, I decided to compile a list of tidbits of advice/wisdom from people I know, books, and films as well as things I came up with to take with me into the new year.

1. "Never lose your childish innocence. It's the most important thing."

-Katherine in Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)

This isn't to be naive but to keep a sense of childish curiosity and playfulness that is invaluable and could be easily lost with an accumulation of cynicism as we get older.

childish innocence channeled by Chaplin-esque Giulietta Masina as Gelsomina in La Strada (1954)

2. Not happy with something? "Fix that!" -Amanda 

(Co-pilot, remind me to get you a wrench that has "Fix that!" engraved on it one day.)

Disney's Handy Manny who happens to look like my friend George

 

3. "Guys are all bastards. Every guy has a bit of bastard in him." 
-Katy Perry-loving manboy

I take this piece of advice with a grain of salt. It also goes the same for girls. Every girl has the potential to do something bitchy. "Even angels have their wicked schemes."

4. Maybe is a vicious word that can toy with your mind. Just because you hope for a yes rather than a no doesn't mean that the possibly of something not happening won't occur.

Arrested Development Season 1, Episode 12 "Marta Complex"

To minimize disappointment, expect nothing rather than something because gambling on someone else's perhaps, perhaps, perhaps might bring forth even more disillusionment. Easier said than done, I know. Don't believe in false promises and don't reach for false hope because it usually doesn't pay off in the end.

5. Don't make excuses for someone else's behavior. It's not your job to do so and you're certainly not responsible for someone else's lack of consideration or misbehavior.

6. "In every bit of honest writing in the world, there is a base theme. Try to understand men, if you understand each other you will be kind to each other. Knowing a man well never leads to hate and nearly always leads to love. There are shorter means, many of them. There is writing promoting social change, writing punishing injustice, writing in celebration of heroism, but always that base theme. Try to understand each other."

-John Steinbeck in a 1938 journal entry

7. If there's something you'll regret not saying, say it before you can't say it anymore because it's better to be an honest idiot rather than an idiot who stayed silent hoping for a chance at something.

8. "Don't ask for guarantees. And don't look to be saved in any one thing, person, machine, or library. Do your own bit of saving, and if you drown, at least die knowing you were headed for shore."

-Faber to Montag in Fahrenheit 451