link<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All of which got me thinking about the promises we make to ourselves, often in the beginning of January. So I googled around a little bit this week. And when I looked into resolutions, I realized that the problem with keeping one may not be something habitual, it might actually be etymological.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To wit. Resolve is one crazy word. It originates from the Latin verb \u2018solvo\u2019 which means \u201cto make loose, unyoke, undo; relax; set free; make void; dispel.\u201d It’s pretty much intellectual WD40. But the many meanings of the word continue from there: \u2018solvo\u2019 can take the loosened pieces and break them down further, like resolving the chemical composition of something into its most elemental components. And once you get there, you can make a complete examination of what you\u2019ve got, and determine what the heck to do with it all, resolving the source of the problem. Which can lead to a decision, and a resulting prescribed action. This is commonly illustrated in a government context, when somebody resolves to make some change or take some action for the future. At which point the gavel comes down and everyone agrees that the original sticky problem that started the whole mess\u2026is resolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The noun form of the word, \u2018resolution,\u2019 has similar meanings that evolved somewhat slowly. Up until the 14th<\/sup> century, it only meant the first half of the process, the act of loosening and breaking things down. It wasn\u2019t until the 15th<\/sup> century that the second part, the act of examining the resulting pieces and coming to a conclusion, and then drawing a recommendation, started to become synonymous with that word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And then there\u2019s the adjectival form of the word, \u2018resolute.\u2019 It\u2019s the willpower you need to hold to your promise and do what you\u2019ve promised to do. But over the centuries, \u2018resolute\u2019 has come to mean not only to be dedicated to a specific<\/em> future promise, but in a more religious or moral sense, to have a general intention to continually better oneself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All of which means that \u2018resolution\u2019 is a lot more than just some promise, it\u2019s a whole process and attitude. It\u2019s \u201cthe first step in knowing you have a problem: admitting you have a problem,\u201d; it\u2019s breaking down all the components and diagnosing the problem; it\u2019s the single-minded recommendation of what to do about it going forward; and it\u2019s the moral dedication to hold yourself to your promise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Yikes, and all I wanted to do was lose a few pounds…)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Which brings me back to 2023, and a resolution of mine. I\u2019ve realized that I face the same problem with the beginning of every year: coming up with enough interesting things to write about for this blog, every blessed Friday morning. I\u2019ve looked at this problem long and hard, and have concluded that in order to resolve it, at least part of my solution will be this: I will cheat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rather than come up with incredibly interesting a la carte subjects, pulling stuff out of the ether week after week, I\u2019m going to let the calendar determine the content. I\u2019ve got a handful of old installments, going back a decade or more, that address many of the key milestones of the year. Stories about solstices and equinoxes, holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, and seasonal interests. I\u2019m gonna dust some of those off, and then add a bunch more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here\u2019s my Revolution Resolution for the coming year: I\u2019m gonna essay a trip once around the sun in 52 topical weekly installments. Think of it as a 2023 desk calendar for your inbox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Come along for the spin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And good luck with your resolutions in the year ahead. Happy New Year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As we end the first week of 2023, I\u2019m sure you would agree that resolutions are notoriously slippery things. I\u2019m proof of that, as evidenced by a resolution I made to my wife way back in 2006. I told her I would attempt to do something I had never…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1825,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Cover-1-rotated.jpg?fit=1512%2C2016&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1823"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1823\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1826,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1823\/revisions\/1826"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quicksilverhg.com\/thequicksliver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}