Do you keep a journal? Do you write New Year’s resolutions?

For me, one of the pleasures of a year’s end is to buy a new three ring binder, take it home, and slip something beautiful (or amusing — or evocative —or etc.) behind the clear plastic of the front cover and my name and the year in the spine.

I find satisfaction in imagining a fresh start, even the arbitrary fresh start signaled by ripping off a calendar page. At the end of a year, I deliberately consider my life, what is feels good about how I use my time and what doesn’t, what I need to change about myself, what kind of life do I want.

For no logical reason I set last year’s list of aspirations (‘resolutions’ is not an accurate word here) inside a pie chart and painted each section a different pastel shade. This year I’m thinking maybe a line graph. The horizontal axis would be the months and the goals would be the vertical. I can assign points to the goals and, as the months pass, watch mountain peaks form across the chart — or maybe the Great Plains. (Yes, I know the Great Plains are not uniformly flat out there. Just regard the statement as forgivable hyperbole.)

Goals for 2026 are based on what worked in 2025. A decision in December 2024 to include a

LIVE PERFORMANCE 1X A MONTH

carried through to more live music last year which was a great solace during these confusing and alarming times. And that delight in live music helped me to

Do something —any little thing at all —about this sorry mess.

So those two Intentions from 2025 are keepers.

That 2025 binder is bursting with written or typed pages, programs, tickets, letters, etc. All of my old journals are. Even though I started keeping them when I was consumed by CFIDS/ME (and long Covid looks like the same thing to my eyes) in order to remember that I had a life beyond being flat on my back, I seldom open them once their year is past. Just seeing them on the shelf is reassurance enough.

How do you benefit from keeping a journal? or writing New Year’s resolutions?