Resolving to be Flexible

The last New Year's resolution that I made that I've actually kept is to not make any more New Year's resolutions.

It was made several years ago, after years of failing to keep any resolutions and starting the New Year kicking myself instead of celebrating all the possibilities that the next year can have, as well as all the accomplishments made in the last year.

My life has undergone many incarnations throughout the years. I've been a child actor, a starving artist, a stay-at-home mom, a working mom, married, divorced, a title that included senior staff privileges, and an assistant. I've worked in market research, the legal field, restaurants, and on a cruise ship. If there has been one constant in my life, it has been change.

I was never a very good improv actor, but my life has taught me that the one thing I must be is quick to adapt. And above all, parenting is the most challenging improvising I've ever done.

My oldest daughter will be 12 this year. Her body has already started to change, and she goes from being an independent, thoughtful person one minute to a crying mess the next. Motherhood has always meant a mountain of patience, but the patience required to raise an adolescent is beyond measurable! I never know if a lame joke will make her smile and change moods again (which it sometimes does) or if she will turn into the eye-rolling embarrassed teen (which she sometimes does). I'm learning not to take it personally.

Before I was a mom, it was easy to flit from one thing to the next. Raising babies, however, required stability. As soon as I got the hang of that, they've gone and grown on me and now the schedule changes according to their schedule changes, which will inevitably change again.

The good news is, they're learning to enjoy downtime now. After weeks of basketball games and holiday parties, they couldn't have been happier to spend a quiet weekend at home. And occasionally, they even entertained themselves!

So no, I will not be making any promises to myself this New Year's. Except maybe, to take it all as it comes.

Originally posted on LA Moms, Dec. 29, 2008