An artistic interpretation of ‘Mrs Dalloway’

Everyone makes resolutions, every year- to be healthier, to swear less perhaps, not to eat past 7… All of these things are ambitious, to improve upon the years before of being you. In retrospect, the majority of these well-meaning resolutions are broken. Life gets in the way and spoils that idealistic white-slate image you have of yourself, when the clock chimes on the 1st of January. The worst part is of course that you do believe all of it to be perfectly reasonable, that no matter how bad the temptation gets, you will always have a steely resolution and not give in.

Of course that doesn’t happen. You reach for the chocolate, you swear when you think no one is around…

And this is not a pessimistic thought, it’s just human nature to be (however small the amount) flawed. There is nothing bad about it. There are those incredible personalities who manage to make it through a whole year without their vice, and are encouraged that way to let go of the next one the following year, leading on to a vice-dropping lifetime, which must be (however terrifying) formidable. Does that mean that every successful person is successful in their New Years resolutions? I can’t imagine them to be, but I am sure that many magazines and newspapers have preached at the beginning of the year of both the kind of successful people who never make any resolutions, and those who don’t, and who remain equally successful. However, the reality is that nothing external and fictitious could ever actually affect an average person’s way of thought, unless they themselves believe it to be accurate, or beautiful, or worth the effort.

Therefore my (hopefully) simple resolution for this year is to appreciate what is beautiful and fleeting. Nothing more. 

Here is my interpretation of what I believe to be both beautiful and fleeting. In ‘Mrs Dalloway’, the protagonist recalls all the past times when she experienced so many things and not felt fulfilled. Why could she not appreciate what was beautiful for her in the moment? I feel fulfilled when I am drawing, so a picture from the cover inspired me to make a quick sketch. 

Here it is, I hope you like it. As the end of January comes to a close, I will not be worrying about any resolutions I am certain I won’t keep. I will just keep the one, and hope that my life will become better as a result.