I’m not a New Year’s Resolution guy. When you’re perfect, you don’t make New Year’s resolutions.Okay, resolution #1: Try to be more modest in 2015.I’m kidding. I know I’m not perfect. It’s a joke. Maybe you should resolve to get a better sense of humor in 2015.But seriously, I’m not one to make New Year’s resolutions. I have no particular objection to them. If you want to lose weight or stop smoking or learn to play the banjo, then the advent of a new year provides a keen symbolic jumping off point. And I hope you’re able to stick with your resolutions so you’ll be a svelte, banjo-playing non-smoker in no time flat.So instead of doing resolutions, I’ve set out to do something else. Something that will present a challenge. Something that will make me think. Something for which the consistent answer to the question “Why are you doing that?” will be, “Just to see if I can.”I’ve decided to make 2015 the Year of Doing Without.The inspiration for this has built over the past few months, but began one day in late September. My wife and I enjoy trying different beers, and some of them are so good we have to drink more than one or two. And after a night in which we had more than two, my wife said, matter of factly, “I’m not going to drink in October.”
This was a surprise to me because we’d never discussed it before. Why the sweeping declaration seemingly out of the blue?She had a few valid reasons. We’d had more than one night in which we drank more than two beers during September. So why not take a break, both to show your liver that you don’t really hate it, and also just to do something different? As an added bonus, those forthcoming drinks in November would taste even better after not having had any for an entire month.Over the course of the following month, my wife did not drink. Not even a drop. We talked about it a few times, but she always reminded me, “It’s Drytober.” Due to a coincidence of the calendar, we already had a party scheduled at our house on November 1. And she drank a few beers that night, picking up where she left off in September, having completed her Month of Doing Without.A month later, on November 30, near midnight, I made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. As a faithful reader of this blog, you’ll remember that I really like PB&J. As in I eat one almost every day. While I ate my sandwich, with my wife’s Drytober idea on my mind, I told her that I planned to forgo peanut butter and jelly for the month of December. And with only one more day to go, I’ve kept my word.So what’s the point of this? Two things.Although I’m not religious, I guess part of my thinking is somewhat related to giving up something for Lent, the purpose of which is to instill self-discipline as a penance for sins. I’m not too worried about being forgiven for my sins, but I think deprivation can be useful.We live in a world where we kill perfectly good trees just so we can keep them in our living room for a month and decorate them. More than 780 million people in the world don’t have access to clean water, yet we use water to keep our grass green. Every year 2.6 million children die of hunger related causes, yet three times in the past month I’ve eaten a meal so large that I felt physical pain from being too full.How does my abstinence from peanut butter and jelly for a month change that? It doesn’t.But every time I made a sandwich for my kids and thought about making one for myself I thought about it. And for that instant I appreciated what I have even more.And the second reason is just to challenge myself. We’re creatures of habit, and change can be difficult. Why not try something different just to see if I can do it?So 2015 will be my Year of Doing Without. Every month I’ll choose one thing to do without. For the first month my wife is joining me in doing without any food that comes from animals. Beginning at midnight on New Year’s Eve, I’m vegan for a month.We’ll see how it goes. I’m already beginning to see some of the challenges of being vegan, which I’m embracing with an “It’s only for a month” line of thinking. If nothing else it’s going to require that I pay more attention to the food I’m eating.I haven’t thought much beyond January, since going vegan is a big step. (And an annoying one at that. Nothing elicits a bigger eye roll from most people than hearing someone say that they’re vegan!)I’ll probably give up beer one month. Maybe sweets another. A month without television would be fun.And what about the Internet? What happens when a blogger makes giving up the Internet part of his Year of Doing Without?Stay tuned.PREVIOUS POST: That Time my Parents Thought I was KidnappedIF YOU LIKED THIS POST I BET YOU'LL ALSO LIKE: My Favorite Year+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Hey, did you like reading this? If so, you should Share it on Facebook so you can bring joy to others. You can also find tons of other posts by me here. And you can like my Facebook page, Brett Baker Writes. Please.
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