Now that the Christmas rush is over, many of us will be thinking about our goals and resolutions for the new year.Often those goals are repeats of last year, because we didn’t accomplish whatever it was we had hoped to in the previous 12 months. I always laugh when I can’t find a parking spot or an empty elliptical trainer at the gym in January. When I once complained to one of the gym staff, he said with a smile, “Don’t worry, it’ll empty out again in February.” And he was right.

Why is it, I wonder, that we often don’t keep our resolutions? Is it because we need to make different resolutions?

Over the last couple of years, I’ve had several friends and family members affected by death or serious illness.

The most recent, a family friend in his 50s who died, really made me think. If I were to be diagnosed with a terminal illness and knew I had a limited amount of time left to live, what would I want to do? Or, perhaps more importantly, what would I regret not doing?

It also made me think about making more meaningful New Year’s resolutions. Two of the most common ones are losing weight and getting organized. These can be somewhat negative. I will stop eating too much and lose weight, I will stop being so messy and get organized. Instead of focusing on developing a good habit, we concentrate on stopping a bad one. Not that these aren’t worthy goals. To have a fulfilling life, one must be healthy and be able to find the car keys.

But I wonder, if we were reflecting upon our lives at the end, would we regret those last 10 pounds never lost or not spending more time with our family? Would we despair over the state of our closets or wish we had laughed more and worried less?

Perhaps if we concentrated on the simpler and more important things in life, then the others would follow. For instance, if we relaxed more, would we be less stressed and therefore eat less, naturally moving closer to a healthy weight? If we slowed down and had a less hectic schedule, wouldn’t it be easier to be more organized?

What if we crafted our resolutions to treat the disease rather than the symptom? Do we have a clutter problem because we are too busy to clean, or because there is a deeper emotional issue at work? Either way, the clutter is the symptom of an underlying problem.

We all want to live life fully. Some say “live every day as if it were your last” or “Carpe Diem” (Seize the day). I say that’s easier said than done. At the end of a long, exhausting day with fussy children, a stopped-up toilet and a traffic jam, I don’t want to seize anything except a good night’s sleep. I just want the day to end.

But most days, there are moments worthy of being treasured. We just have to stop or at least slow down enough to recognize them. Maybe a good New Year’s resolution would be just that: To slow down, shift our focus to what is really important in our lives and look for those precious moments.

Tiffany Doerr Guerzon, a homemaker and freelance writer, lives in Maple Valley. She can be reached at homespun@reporternewspapers.com