A Last-minute New Year’s Resolution

As we get ready to say aloha to 2014 and start a new year, I want to thank MidWeek‘s faithful readers.

For those of you who take time to read my column and can relate or remember experiencing similar episodes with your children, mahalo!

I often get asked how I come up with topics for my column every week.

Inspiration No. 1:

Something hits me in the moment — sometimes, quite literally — like when I drove off with my daughter’s shoes on my roof one morning and they flew off onto Kalanianaole Highway.

Inspiration No. 2:

Someone contacts me directly or MidWeek editor Don Chapman with a story suggestion that’s a good fit for my column. Please feel free to email me with your ideas. If it’s something families should know about, this is a good vehicle to reach them.

Inspiration No. 3:

It’s a timely subject. You may have noticed my past few columns had to do with Christmas and the holidays — everything from popular family events to my fear of holiday crafts. As much as possible, I try to talk about topics that are on readers’ minds at the time.

Speaking of time, when I started thinking about possibilities for this week’s column, I thought New Year’s resolutions made sense since you’re reading this right before the new year. Then, I had one of those “uh oh” moments. You know the feeling when you suddenly remember something important?

Oh, yeah, our editor kindly asked us to submit our columns early to make this “holiday” edition a little easier on the hardworking staff.

Translation: Our deadline was moved up by one day and, suddenly, I have remembered that it’s due within hours. In this case, that was instant inspiration not just for my column, but for a resolution.

I’m not really big on New Year’s Resolutions. I like the idea of a fresh start for 2015, but let’s face it — most people make unrealistic resolutions they break right after they make it.

You know, like work out every day or quit smoking cold turkey.

Both of those are great goals, but it seems you’re setting yourself up for failure by making it 100 percent do or die.

So I decided to pick something more manageable, but that could make a big difference. Here goes: Don’t wait until the last minute to get things done. Now that I’ve put that out there, I’d better stick with it.

Have a happy New Year with your loved ones!