Senior News Line: Starting the year again

I’m doing things a little differently this year. Having made New Year’s resolutions in January, and having kept nearly none of them, I’ve decided to make some mid-year resolutions and try again.

One task where I failed was in keeping a regular schedule for online French lessons. I’d told myself I would devote 15 minutes a day to this, long enough to complete one small lesson section. Didn’t happen.

Duolingo, a free online program at duolingo.com, has 40 different language courses, ranging from Japanese, German, Polish and Russian to Scottish Gaelic, Chinese, Welsh and Greek.

By signing up, the website with very cute animated graphics keeps track of daily progress — or, the lack of it. I’m going to try again.

Another area where I failed to stick to a schedule was daily walking. This wasn’t entirely my fault, however.

Weekly winter storms kept a coating of snow and ice on the roads, and the rec center kept closing for repairs. Now, with no more snow expected, I can theoretically keep up with walking.

I’d promised I would take an online course and didn’t. The range of offerings on the internet is vast, so there’s no excuse.

Coursera, MIT OpenCourseWare, Harvard, FreeCampus, Stanford, The Open University and others host free courses across a wide variety of interests. I’m going to start with a few short introductory courses in the arts and humanities sections.

How about you? Do you need to “reset” your activities and perhaps make some new goals for the rest of the year?

Knowing where to start isn’t difficult. Do a search online for “resolutions for seniors,” and you’ll find lists of ideas.

Or, you might narrow it down to topics like “mental health goals for seniors” or “self-improvement goals.”

If you made resolutions already this year and have managed to stick with them, good for you! Perhaps add one to your list?