Resolution – Scrape Off the Old, Brush in the New

I’ve decided to start the New Year as I mean to go on, with a new loo brush. In fact not so much a brush as a scraper. Its arrow shaped head will zone in on debris with laser sharpness leaving behind pristine cleanliness. Well that’s what the spiel said. With its bristleless head there is nowhere for detritus to attach and being made with silver it’s apparently antibacterial. Instead of a rigid core at the head, this device is flexible. The fact that this device arrived on New Year’s Eve by courier and I opened it on New Year’s Day seems symbolic to me.

This coming year I will try to be more scraper than brush, and I will wear more silver. On the silver front, why hide away that de riguer silver charm bracelet for special occasions? I shall wear those mementos, donated by loved ones, as reminders of their love and of the memories that they celebrate; the one from my parents from Christmas 2011, the one from my in-laws for that special birthday. As for flexibility, I’m not going to talk about flexibility of attitude, I will leave that to the specialist therapy bloggers. Instead I have booked myself in a yoga course for beginners. I have the mat; I have had the mat for many years. It’s now time to use it. I will go and obtain the flexibility of a coiled worm.

The symbolism of the antibacterial properties reminds me that I should address the ‘bug’ bears in my life, the ones that gnaw away at me causing biological destruction by stress.  Like the brush, too often the issues of family life stick to me with the tenacity of tissue paper, and as family members could tell you this leaves me very bristly.   For their sanity, and mine, I need to make a clean sweep rather than brushing ineffectively.

So how does this look in my world, besides wearing that silver charm bracelet? The following is my list. It’s a small list but significant to me.

1. if I can’t persuade my 16 year old to add more quotations to her English essay or to let me teach her how to calculate the angle of Y then I should let go and move on. Translation, that old favourite: don’t stress over what you can’t change.
2. I won’t try to do everything myself but I do need to be precise if I want help. My cry for assistance should be to the point like the arrowhead of the scraper and not the prickly hints that I am in the habit of giving. Translation, ask for help and do it clearly.

This is all very well intentioned but can habits really be changed? I will do my best to be more scraper than brush. I suppose, at least, there are reminders dotted around in the bathrooms of the house.