Every year around New Year’s I sit down and write out a list of resolutions for the new year. During that time I also ask others what their resolutions for the new year will be. I guess a few people still make them, but a resounding number of responses I get are full of indignation. A rather large section of the population pride themselves in not making resolutions. “I’m not changing a damn thing,” one person told me. Well, good for you, Captain Perfect.
I used to have one friend who would ask me every year, “What’s the big deal about January 1st? Whenever I want to make a change in my life, I just make it!” If that system works for you, rock and roll. If you start each morning with a bowl of cereal and a list of ways to improve your life, you are awesome. There are people out there like that, but I’m not one of them. (For what it’s worth, my friend wasn’t, either.) Personally I think the beginning of the new year is a great time to reflect on how our lives have been going and how we can make them better. I don’t see the harm in that.
I’ve already mentioned a few of my resolutions for 2013. In the health and exercise arena, we as a family have stopped eating sugar. I personally am also limiting my drinks to no-calorie drinks: water, black coffee, and iced-tea, for the most part. I’m sure a beer or two will work its way into my belly, but these 200-300+ calorie coffees are off the menu for now. I’ve also started exercising again — a little, so far, but a little is better than none.
For project, I plan on writing for an hour every morning, posting a new picture online every day, and recording one podcast every week. That’s a pretty aggressive schedule, and I hope I am able to keep it up. The thing I am most disappointed in myself about is not writing more books, so more books will hopefully be the fruit borne of those early morning writing sessions.
I have a few other miscellaneous resolutions as well, like wearing my seat belt in the car and digitizing the pile of things I have stacked around me (magazines, video tapes, and cassette tapes, primarily). I also wrote down “clean the garage,” something that was on my list every year of the 10 years we lived at the old house. I have parted ways with an astounding amount of items of the past year, and plan to continue that activity throughout 2013. Slow and steady wins the race.
While working on my resolutions for 2013 I found a long lost file titled “Resolutions for 2012”. Changes don’t happen just by writing them down and forgetting about them. You have to read them, you have to remember them, and you have to act on them. You have to put effort forth into making change happen. That’s what resolutions mean to me — simply a list of things I’d like to change to make me and my family healthier and happier. I don’t see the harm in that.
I understand some people saying the first is just another day why change anything just because it is the first of the year. I think people just find it easier to try something at the new years holiday after a break in work and being with family having some time to actually reflect on the past year. I believe it is a very healthy habit for people to make goals or “resolutions” for the year. Making short term and achievable goals is always the smartest thing along with not so easily attainable goals throughout the year as well to challenge yourself.
My personal goals for the year are some of the same old, same old resolutions that everyone has, eat healthier and exercise more. But this year was a little different for myself, after losing dad I know how quickly your life can be affected so quickly and without defense. That being said my main goal for this year is it voice my opinions of caring for family and others, insuring they know I am grateful they are in my life. I also intend to pray more and of course pray for a cure for cancer. So in all I just want to improve overall…. who doesn’t?
We make resolutions on New Years for the same reason we sing Auld Lang Syne. A day to reflect, remember the past, and look forward to the new, whatever that may be. And if the past wasn’t absolutely perfect (like Rob’s friend), then we make plans on how to improve the future – and us. So Happy New Year, and on with the resolutions!
I think resolving to lose weight at the beginning of the year is natural since it is coming off the heels of the holiday season filled with lots of eating. Since Thanksgiving I gained more than 10 pounds and I want to lose that weight ASAP.
Regarding cutting down on sugar, iced tea (commercial brands like Nestea, that is) is often very sweet, so check the labels. I remember watching a local consumers show last year that was about commercial iced tea, and how it’s often as sweet as regular soft drinks.
Of course, if you make your own from scratch, then you can control how sweet it is (if at all).
I think the main problem people have with /not/ sticking to their resolutions is that they’re simply not specific enough to be enforced; when someone says “I want to exercise more” they might have an idea in mind, but a resolution of “I will go running three mornings a week” or “I will do ten push-ups every day when I get out of bed” seem to have more weight and thought behind them. They cease being “resolutions” and – when stuck to – become habit, and good habits are always better than wishful thinking.
No resolutions for me, I’ve rigged up a points system. The goal is 500 points a month doing things I feel will better myself, like writing a blog entry every day, going for long walks (at least a half-hour), that sort of thing. Like XBL achievements, only nobody else sees the tally sheet at the end of the month.