Hangover Resolutions

Today I will end the year by doing an interview with a radio station out in Halifax about abuse and abuse prevention. It happens near noon, so near ten, I will begin to prepare thoughts about what I'd like to say. It's a fairly long interview, by radio standards, so I want to be able to use the time well. Many people who hear me speak or hear me interviewed, either on television or radio, think that I speak 'off the cuff'. Um, no. I prepare. Each time I go on air I get this intense kind of fear of falling - so much can go wrong on a live interview. So fear and anxiousness simply leads to good preparation.

It strikes me, now, as the perfect way to end the year. Doing something that is directly about what I care about - giving people with disabilities the skills they need to live safe and powerful lives - reaching an audience of people listening and broadening ideas of what can be done and what should be done. That's a very cool 'offer.'

So today won't be spent making resolutions.

It will be spent fulfilling one.

Several years ago I made a resolution to take every interview offered me, if it's in a subject I knew something about, even if the topic is controversial.

This has led me to being interviewed by newspapers, radio and television. It's also led me to being interviewed by Bizarre Magazine in the UK and Hustler Magazine in the US. Both interviews caused my friends to shudder but I approached them as seriously as any other interview. Audience is audience and message is message. Let me tell you that the questions asked in those interviews were perhaps the most challenging I ever had to handle. But GOOD, they were being asked.

After the interview is over, I'm editing a submission to our newsletter, Service, Support and Success, which will be coming on in February - for Valentines day - and it's on reaching and supporting romance skills to people with intellectual disabilities. Enough with sex. We need to teach about romance! Intimacy! Love, baby. So, we've got a submission on that topic and it's looking good. January's issue will come out sometime early next week. So work on February begins now.

Several years ago I made a resolution to create a means of providing interesting articles, informative pieces, for direct care staff.

We in our second year now and it's going well. It's way more work than I thought it would be, Those of you that get the newsletter know that I get to work with Angie Nethercott again (hi Angie) who is the co-editor so it's nice to have someone to share the load with. Angie and I have worked together for years.  It's cool to see the response we've gotten. And it's cool to see how far it goes this little newsletter.

So, when Joe and I began to talk about resolutions, he said, 'Oh, please, no more about work.' I looked at him in surprise and he said, 'Everytime you make a resolution about work - you end up being busier than ever. Why not make resolutions that can be broken in a week or two and be over with.?'

This strikes me as wise.

I don't think I can bear any more of these resolutions that are still following me years later ... except there's one, just one, that I want to achieve next year, well it may take a couple ... I think I may be able to slip it by without Joe's noticing.

Shhhhh.