I have always been fascinated by Meryl Streep because she is the celebrity I probably resemble the closest, right? Here are Meryl and me in our younger days…
Uncanny, isn’t it? 😉 And thank you to all the friends and aquaintances over the years who have pointed out the resemblance to me. Brownie points to you all!
Ms. Streep’s latest oeuvre is the bio pic of Margaret Thatcher. The Iron Lady. A woman with big ambitions and the iron will to carry them out.
So how are Meryl and Margaret and Me related (other than a slight resemblance)? Well, here’s my point: I have seen some of my fellow bloggers’ fantastic goals for 2012, but frankly, resolution making and goal setting in the New Year give me a rash. I do believe in a vague notion of writing down goals because how will you know if you’ve accomplished what you set out to do if you don’t write it down first? One’s perception changes so much as time moves along, and it is always interesting to see what your intentions were compared to your results, but I truly balk at writing down specific tasks to get from here, at the beginning of 2012, to there, which is wherever I want to be next year at this time. Maybe that’s not productive of me, but there it is.
I love this quote from the recent Vogue interview with Meryl Streep:
“With any character I play, where she is me is where I meet her. It’s very easy to set people at arm’s length and judge them. Yes, you can judge the policies and the actions and the shortcomings—but to live inside that body is another thing entirely. And it’s humbling on a certain level and infuriating, just like it is to live in your own body. Because you recognize your own failings, and I have no doubt that she recognized hers.”
So in the interest of recognizing my failings (reluctance to write down goals) and inspired by these two great ladies, Meryl and Margaret, I am publishing a list of wants this year. Wants that in some way resemble goals. To get the ball rolling for me I admit to a little AhHA! moment reading Kristen Lamb’s blog post yesterday when she asked the question, what kind of writer do you want to be? And this post What’s Your Dream? from Ingrid Schaffenburg’s blog Threadbare Gypsy Soul inspired me too.
So, my wants:
I want to be the kind of writer who touches people with her words, in my blog, in my books. I want to support causes I believe in, like the National Womens History Museum that Meryl Streep has put her name to. I want to give the world to my daughters. I want to feel strong physically and stimulated mentally. I want to get quiet every so often, because it’s OK to do that, and it’s my nature.
And that’s all for now. Do those things qualify as goals? Yes? Maybe? At least it’s a place to start.
And what about you? Do you balk at goal setting and need to trick yourself into it? Who inspires you? Who do you want to play YOU in the movie version of your life? Why?
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