Laura Carr (general studies lecturer since last autumn, cat lover and former TEFL teacher) enters 2007 with resolution/s. Fun while it lasted The fairy lights have been taken down, presents have managed to squeeze themselves into already-cluttered corners of my home, I’ve finished off the Baileys and I’ve consumed about a truckload of cheese and biscuits over the last couple of weeks: It was fun while it lasted, but the Christmas period is now well and truly over.
The festive season sees friends who are scattered around the country flocking back to Middlesbrough and, for a brief few days, our lives collide once again. There’s something very comforting about being in the company of friends who’ve experienced those tumultuous childhood and teenage-years alongside you but I can’t help but notice that as the years go by, our conversations seem to get scarier and scarier. We started off debating choice of sweets, then alcopops (orange 20/20 or strawberry?), GCSE options, then A-level options, gap years, university cities, student jobs, first real jobs and slowly but surely house prices, wedding bells and children are creeping in there. Feeling old and nostalgic, it seemed fitting that I would spend New Year’s Eve in a house where I spent so much of my childhood. No, I didn’t break into the house I grew up in; I went to a farewell New Year’s Gathering at my friend Hannah’s parents’ house. They’re finally selling up and moving out of their lovely old creaky house into something a little smaller and more modern. Mid-profiterole, Hannah told me about an old diary she’d found while packing. In her diary she’d filled in a little fact-file about herself and each of her friends, which included the sentence ‘_________ wants to be a _________ when they grow up because________’. Apparently, Hannah wanted to be a photographer because she would meet famous people … Katie wanted to be a policewoman because it would be exciting … Lucy wanted to be an optometrist because she liked eyes … Ben wanted to be a barrister because it would be fun … Laura wanted to be an I don’t know because she is indecisive. Yes, at the age of fourteen, my ongoing life-plan crisis was already in full swing. SMART startNow, since New Year is the time for fresh starts, I made a silent decision as the clock struck 12 that I would stop being so indecisive and grab life by the horns instead of watching it slip away. My name would no longer be synonymous with indecisive, but with daring… brave … intrepid! While I was lying in bed the next morning (OK, afternoon), my brain still infused with alcohol, I began to ponder how I would achieve my change of personality. And then it came to me! I need to set myself some SMART targets. I may not have learnt all that much while teaching, but one thing that has been drummed into me is that targets need to be Specific, Manageable, Assessable, Realistic and Time-Specific. I have no idea whether this target malarkey is particular to teaching (in an effort to organise and motivate disorganised and demotivated teachers) or if it crops up in other professions, but either way, we’re encouraged to be SMART every other day. As it’s easy to do while you’re lying in bed, I prepared myself for a busy and proactive day ahead: I would spend the day writing down detailed SMART targets for 2007. I would even use different coloured felt-tips and write down dates by which to complete my various resolutions: I would have learned how to use Adobe PhotoShop, I would be able to jog the full 13 miles without stopping for my next bash at the Great North Run, I would have made a significant and meaningful move in my career, I would remember to apply fake tan once every three-four days, I would spend the summer trekking in Peru for Voluntary Service Overseas, I would wean myself off Ben and Jerry’s Cookie Dough ice-cream – oh the possibilities! Individually, these targets were easily breakable, but if I could make them Specific, Manageable, Assessable, Realistic and Time-Specific there would be no limit to what I could achieve in 2007. And then I stumbled out of bed and my tummy started to heave and my head started to spin and my mum shouted at me for getting up so late when I was supposed to be helping her make pudding for my Nanas. And then the rest of the day was spent eating and drinking (only a bit) and playing Boggle. And my SMART targets got forgotten, which meant that I broke all my resolutions in one fell swoop. See Laura's earlier writings |
