My New Year’s Resolution and Other Stupid Things
By Carlo Dall’Olmo
2024 is quickly coming to a close. I don’t think I am alone when I say SAYONARA 2024, don’t let the door hit your butt on the way out. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think 2024 was horrible…I mean I personally had a few cool breakthroughs but also a few frustrations. All-in-all it was a decent year. While I look back in wonder – the could have beens and the should have beens, I also look forward to the new year and start planning my resolutions. When I was younger, I LOVED making promises to my new year. Like so many before me – losing weight, working out, getting better grades, finding a girlfriend were on the top of my list (losing weight still is). As I got older and more realistic (some say jaded but I digress), I began questioning the whole “resolution” thing. Afterall, I have never nor am I ever going to follow through a whole year with my resolutions. That is way too much work and not much fun. No, I prefer not make promises I can’t/won’t keep. See that way, how can I fail? Nothing promised nothing to worry about, right? Well, except I do like a good challenge.
My Year in a nutshell
The beginning part of the year started with finishing my novel – a two-year endeavor that culminated in April. Every day for two years waking up at 5 am pounding away on the laptop for an hour before getting ready for my day job. Not really knowing what I was doing or where the story was going – wondering if I was wasting my time as I wrote. In the end the only thing I know for certain is that to this day (8 months after finishing the first draft) I can’t sleep past 5 AM. Now some may say that currently having a puppy at home doesn’t help, I say I am up before the puppy so there. This was followed up by the successful competition of the conference – man things were cooking. I didn’t need any resolution – I was doing great things and making it happen. Resolutions are for suckers. For those who need to push themselves to make things happen. I was making more things happen than I had the time of day for. Who needed resolutions? Not this guy.
Then something happened – maybe life or maybe something more sinister but I stopped writing. My “hiatus” turned into a drought. I went from taking a bit of time off to not writing at all. Something was amiss in my creative endeavors, and I fretted. Filling the void with other creative outlets like baking or reading but nothing could quite fill the void. Not having a plan or promises to keep only added to my struggles. I had no goals. Nothing to measure myself against. Just a guy floating through time with nowhere to go. I felt lost. Maybe resolutions aren’t so bad. Maybe I needed one or some to keep me motivated. Hmm…
MY PROMISE TO 2025
Now that 2024 is officially ending, I can look back at the year with a bit clarity. I can see what I accomplished, what I didn’t accomplish and really what might have been had I had a plan. 2024 was productive in certain areas, no doubt, but in the one area that keeps me motivated, 2024 was a bit of a letdown. Resolutions I believe work, even if you don’t achieve your goals – they work. So, here’s 2025 and my resolution to getting back to writing. I need to finish rewriting my script and get that completed so I can move on to the next chapter of my screenwriting career. Here’s to YOU 2025 and all the cool things it might bring.
If you have new year resolutions or struggle with them – drop me a line in the comments below and share your thoughts. Would love to hear from you.