The Five Days Project: Who needs to commit to one New Year's Resolution when you can "mini-commit" to a whole bunch of 'em?

I have commitment issues. It’s a Sagittarius thing (so I’ve been told). When I was engaged to my now Husband of six years, people kept asking me, “how can you be so calm, you’ve known your fiancé for like five days?” (Actually, it was 2 ½ months). And I thought “Well, I’m just getting married. If I don’t like being married, I’ll just get divorced. If I get divorced, I’ll just think ‘Well, I did that, cool.’” That’s not what I said in my vows, by the way. I think my vows were something like “let’s give this a shot. I promise to give this a fair shot.” 

Cause what’s forever? Or always? What’s “commitment?” A lot of people would say a beautiful thing that you do to show how devoted you are to someone who loves you. That’s part of it. The other part is it’s kind of nice to put yourself into something completely, and see what comes out the other side. So then you see it and you think “I did that.” Or “We did that.” (Credit where credit is due.) 

I guess that’s Graduate School. It’s a forced commitment of craziness that makes you commit to sitting in a chair and being committed (literally) to an institution that will make you say things like “Well, Foucault would say”… biopolitics, panopticon, something about controlling the body, sadomasochism… I am fully committed to academia. I love it. This perhaps... makes it harder to commit to other things... like moisturizing.

So I’ve decided I’m going to use my multi-tasking can’t really commit want to do it all nature for good and start my Five Days Project. I came up with it when people started talking about New Year’s Resolutions. And then there is always that guy who goes “nobody ever keeps their resolutions, what’s the point?” It’s the commitment really. Last year’s resolution was to moisturize and de-clutter. That was going to be this year’s too and then I thought “I don’t know. It’s hard to buy more moisturizer when I’m supposed to be de-cluttering.” Commitment. So I came up with The Five Days Project. Where I would only have to commit to some resolution for five days, how hard is that? That’s not hard, unless those five days involve giving up caffeine, or caffeine, or ice tea with caffeine. The Five Days Project goes a little like this. 

“Oooo that’s a shiny thing that I would like to do someday, but it would take a lot of commitment. I will commit to it for five days. Then I can move on to the next shiny thing.” 

That’s basically how it works. I’ve come up with a list. I’ll be looking for more suggestions soon. I plan to do these things for five days each and see what happens. They are mostly based on past New Year’s Resolutions that I have made. It’s now or never… or five days later…They are in no particular order, and you never know what the next one is going to be. And maybe I will commit to taking five days off from my five days project every once in a while. Any way you cut it, it’s something to do (not that I didn’t have enough to do). It’s a challenge that I set forth for my New Year, 2013. I’m going to do it till I run out of ideas, until the year is over, or until I stop. I guess I should at least commit to it for five days. (HA. I crack myself up). 

Random Five Days Tasks List – (in no particular order, not a binding legal document, subject to change at any time, open for suggestions). 

·         I will give up caffeine for five days. 

·         I will sleep whenever I am tired for five days. 

·         I will go on a juice cleanse/ cleanse/ clensey thing for five days. (I will probably get snappy with people during these five days as well.) 

·         I will write comments to the top five Facebook posts on my feed every time I log in to Facebook for five days. 

·         I will write a blog entry telling friends exactly what I think about them (mu wa ha ha) each day for five days. 

·         I will read a book a day for five days. 

·         I will eat a piece of tomato each day for five days (I’ll probably eat different tomatoes each day, just to see what they taste like). I hate tomatoes. 

·         I will take a picture at the top of each hour that I am awake for five days. 

·         I will let Arya Barya decide what we are having for dinner for five days. 

·         I will talk to one person I don’t know each day for five days. 

·         I will call one friend in my phone contacts who I haven’t talked to in more than 6 months each day for five days. 

·         I will try some kind of food that I tell people I don’t like but in reality I’ve just never tried to eat because it seemed like something I wouldn’t like each day for five days. (Examples: Scallops, Squid, Sea Urchin, Eggplant, Pumpkin Pie, Anchovies, Fried Tofu, Apricot Jelly, Veal… maybe not veal…)

·         I will go out to dinner with someone each day for five days. 

·         I will make a music video of my day to the first song that plays on Itunes each morning when I wake up.

·         I will interview the first five people who respond to my Facebook post about interviews and write an article about them for the blog.

·         I will write one short story a day for five days. 

·         I will write one poem a day for five days. 

·         I will wear a dress each day for five days. 

·         I will watch one episode of Dr. Who each day for five days. 

·         I will watch one movie per day that is about Indians and then write a review of them. 

·         I will walk a mile each day for five days. 

·         I will write a letter to the author of whatever book I read in my “five days of reading a book each day” and send it to them. 

·         I will call my parents each day for five days and end the conversation with “And I wanted you to know that I love you.” 

·         I will say exactly what I am thinking if anyone asks me “what are you thinking about” for five days. 

·         I will do my hair/ wear my hair in a different style each day for five days. 

·         I will wear something from my closet each day that I have sworn I was going to wear again even though I haven’t and for some reason I still can’t find it in my heart to get rid of it. 

·         I will write a synopsis/ description of the novels I currently have in progress and post one a day for five days for people to vote on. 

·         I will write the highest voted on novel (from votes/ synopsis) in five days. 

·         I will have invite five people over (one per day) who I have never had a meal/ tea with before for tea at my house each day for five days. 

·         I will submit one short story each day for five days to be published. 

·         I will let Arya Barya pick my outfit each day for five days. 

·         I will Swiffer the floor every day for five days 

·         I will visit a one new building on campus that I have never been to before each day for five days.

·         I will write a fan letter to people who probably don’t get enough fan letters who I am lucky enough to be on the forefront of liking a whole lot. 

·         I will watch a kung fu movie on Netflix every day for five days. 

·         I will write one blog entry each day for five days about the news/ google alert stories that are in my Gmail box about “American Indians” or “Native Americans.” 

·         I will drink 8 glasses of water each day for five days. 

·         I will do whatever Gwyneth Paltrow tells me to do that week for five days (as according to her Goop): http://www.goop.com/journal/make/207/superfoods   PS: I sort of hate Gwyneth Paltrow, because I had to spell check her name, and because she is Gwyneth Paltrow. This – is big of me. 

·          I will go out and do SOMETHING each night for five days. (Arya Barya will probably go too. Maybe Husband can come… we’ll see.)

·         I will invite people over for a dance party for five days – hopefully some of them will show up on day five. 

Again – this is just a start. I may change, add, subtract as the time goes on. But I figure, it gives me the chance to meet every broken resolution…for five days...

Five Day Task #1: I will write blog entries for the next five days (one per day) about whatever my friends post in the comments on my Facebook Page.  Day one starts tomorrow…

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