My New Year's Resolutions
January 1st is the official "start over" date internationally. This is the day that the new diet begins and that leaves are turned over and new projects begun. This could happen any other day of the year but somehow January 1st is an easy date to track progress from, just a good time for a "do over".
I have made the exact same resolutions for probably the last 10 years, with just about no success whatsoever. I am going to lose weight (each year the specific number of pounds changes depending on how much I gained last year), get our finances in order and clean and organize the house.
Last year I resolved to lose 80 lbs, which was a pretty ambitious goal, and actually managed to lose 25, which is better than any other year. In April I organized a yard sale for the Bargain Buyway and cleaned out closets, cupboards and drawers, which was at least a step in the right direction although a small step. And finances didn't really get any make over, we are still as broke as we were last year.
So what are your resolutions? Losing weight is probably the single most resolved resolution. Maybe it was to pad a savings account by a certain number. Maybe is was cleaning out the basement or the garage, both worthy goals. Maybe it was a remodeling project you wanted to get started...or finished. Maybe they were spiritual goals...to read your Bible more or spend more time praying or give more to charities. Whatever the goal, it is a worthy goal.
The one thing I have done differently this year is that I actually wrote those goals on a piece of paper that lays on the dining room table where I can see it regularly (because a diet doesn't mean I won't regularly sit down to a meal, although hopefully a smaller meal). Storing information in my mind is a precarious place to store anything. It will soon be floating in the sea of forgetfulness. And by writing it down it cements that resolution in place. No denial about what you actually meant.
It also helps to get your spouse on board with your resolutions, hence the successful weight loss last year. Mike's philosophy is to make up your mind what you want to do and then just do it! That kind of resolve doesn't come easy to some of us (like me), so it really helped to have him come on like the gestapo and make me stick to the weight loss plan. Now if I can just interest him in cutting spending and cleaning up the house!
The fact that these have been goals for 10+ years and I have only recently achieved any measure of success tends to make me feel like a failure...and feeling like a failure is a sure-fired way to fail. Somehow, someway, we have to overcome the failure mentality. Looking at your failures in the form of failed new year's resolutions is the worst thing you can do, because if you were not failing in these areas you wouldn't have made them resolutions. How about looking to your successes for encouragement. We can all find a way to measure success. One of my successes was helping host our CFDA state and territorial shoot this past September as head scorekeeper and having it go well. I can also look back at those 25 lbs I lost and claim that as a success, disregarding the fact that I regained 10 of them over the holidays!
Anyway, I want to encourage each and every one of you to keep stiving toward being a better you. None of us is perfect, and the world would like to call attention to our failures, but we are a success if we continue to move forward and become better one step at a time. Happy New Year!
I have made the exact same resolutions for probably the last 10 years, with just about no success whatsoever. I am going to lose weight (each year the specific number of pounds changes depending on how much I gained last year), get our finances in order and clean and organize the house.
Last year I resolved to lose 80 lbs, which was a pretty ambitious goal, and actually managed to lose 25, which is better than any other year. In April I organized a yard sale for the Bargain Buyway and cleaned out closets, cupboards and drawers, which was at least a step in the right direction although a small step. And finances didn't really get any make over, we are still as broke as we were last year.
So what are your resolutions? Losing weight is probably the single most resolved resolution. Maybe it was to pad a savings account by a certain number. Maybe is was cleaning out the basement or the garage, both worthy goals. Maybe it was a remodeling project you wanted to get started...or finished. Maybe they were spiritual goals...to read your Bible more or spend more time praying or give more to charities. Whatever the goal, it is a worthy goal.
The one thing I have done differently this year is that I actually wrote those goals on a piece of paper that lays on the dining room table where I can see it regularly (because a diet doesn't mean I won't regularly sit down to a meal, although hopefully a smaller meal). Storing information in my mind is a precarious place to store anything. It will soon be floating in the sea of forgetfulness. And by writing it down it cements that resolution in place. No denial about what you actually meant.
It also helps to get your spouse on board with your resolutions, hence the successful weight loss last year. Mike's philosophy is to make up your mind what you want to do and then just do it! That kind of resolve doesn't come easy to some of us (like me), so it really helped to have him come on like the gestapo and make me stick to the weight loss plan. Now if I can just interest him in cutting spending and cleaning up the house!
The fact that these have been goals for 10+ years and I have only recently achieved any measure of success tends to make me feel like a failure...and feeling like a failure is a sure-fired way to fail. Somehow, someway, we have to overcome the failure mentality. Looking at your failures in the form of failed new year's resolutions is the worst thing you can do, because if you were not failing in these areas you wouldn't have made them resolutions. How about looking to your successes for encouragement. We can all find a way to measure success. One of my successes was helping host our CFDA state and territorial shoot this past September as head scorekeeper and having it go well. I can also look back at those 25 lbs I lost and claim that as a success, disregarding the fact that I regained 10 of them over the holidays!
Anyway, I want to encourage each and every one of you to keep stiving toward being a better you. None of us is perfect, and the world would like to call attention to our failures, but we are a success if we continue to move forward and become better one step at a time. Happy New Year!
Congratulations on your blog! I agree that writing is therapeutic. I will stop back in and see what you've been writing. It's always nice to hear a voice from back home.
ReplyDeleteKris at ATHOMEATLAKEMAC.blogspot.com