many hands

Last night Freddy had HRS ARK ROYAL and I over for dinner. We got to talking about resolutions and goal-setting, and Freddy brought up the niceness of having your friends sort of hold you accountable to your goals. Not like they nag you about going to the gym or something. More like they pump you up to keep going when you start to feel uncertain. Like, I’m trying to drive less in the New Year. More specifically, I am trying to not drive at all at least one day a week. I wrote a post about this for a transportation blog at Freddy’s request, and when it goes up I’ll post a link. I set this goal last year as well, and failed miserably. This year I’m feeling more confident, and the main reason is that this year my friends are in on it. They know that it’s important to me, and they help with logistics. Steve just got a car over break, and he’s doing a lot of the social driving now, which is cool. And HRS ARK ROYAL is very good at helping me consolidate errands and thus driving time. I might not be drive-free yet, but I am definitely driving a lot less. Friends helping you. Nice.
It works other ways too! HRS ARK ROYAL is doing his 3m30lb challenge, and all of his friends are being so rad about it. Last night at dinner Freddy offered to remove the serving dishes from the table, in case they were tempting him to eat more than the meager portion on his plate. And he gets lots of supportive comments on his blog and flickr set. Another friend has started doing fitness walks in this new year. He told me about a rainy day when walking didn’t seem like fun at all, but he emailed a friend who responded with love and encouragement, and he went ahead and took the walk and felt real good about it.
It’s such a perfect heart ideal. Just being really open about what you are trying to do, no matter what the scale, and letting friends help you. And of course the reverse is true! I want to give so much love to my goal-setting friends. Because you know what they say about many hands. They make light work.
And speaking of friends, in a little less than an hour I am going to meet up with my friend Darcy, who I haven’t seen in almost 10 years. We were dear friends in 9th grade, then I switched schools and we grew apart. But I always wondered about her, and I blogged about her a few months ago, hoping she would google herself and find me, and she did! And she’s in town and we are getting together and it is going to be rad!
2006 is shaping up to be the best year ever.