Standing on my Soap Box

Its almost the beginning of the year. Some think its time for resolutions.

What is a resolution anyways? According to Aunt Merriam, and Uncle Webster, a resolution is “the act or process of resolving.” Well, doesn’t that help? So I looked up resolve. Obsolete which tickled my funny bone, but didn’t help at the moment. I looked a little further and found definition #4 – to deal with successfully or #5 to reach a firm decision about.

Technical stuff aside, according to MY definition, a resolution is when we decide we are going to make a change to or about something in the new year. If you are like most people, me included, that lasts about a day and a half if you are “lucky” (I don’t believe in luck, I believe in blessings)

So what kind of resolutions is there to make. For some, it’s about losing weight or stopping smoking, or even reading your bible more consistently or it could even be about using your time better. This is by no means a complete list of things that you could be making a resolution about…

When I think back to the definitions I have above and I then I think about the resolutions I have listed here, Uncle and Aunty Dictionary may have a point. If we are really serious about our resolutions, then we need to “resolve” to make a change. We need to make our bad eating habits and our laziness “obsolete”! We need to make “a firm decision” and “successfully deal with” the things that are needing our attention.

In thinking about the above resolutions, you could be very general – lose weight. Ok, if I lose 2 lbs I will have completed what I set out to do. Or to exercise more could mean adding a walk a month, which would be more than what you are currently doing.

The other option could, however, be to start slowly. My personal opinion (and you know I have a lot of opinions, otherwise I wouldn’t be on a soap box) as to why I mess up on all my resolutions, is this, I start out way too gung ho, and want to conquer the world on New Year’s Day!  There are still family gatherings on New Year’s Day. There is nothing like breaking a resolve in a flash, than having your Uncle’s bug you because you have decided you are a rabbit and rabbit food is all you choose! Wait just a day or two until the family gatherings are done. Second, if I ended the year as a non exerciser, I cannot start running marathons at the beginning of the year. I can, however, start walking 30 minutes a day and start building my stamina and my lung capacity. Once I can do that without sucking too much wind, I could start adding a minute of running sporadically throughout my 30 minutes, and build up gradually to the point of running 10 minutes and walking 1 minute (The Running Room has an excellent learn to
run program). By the end of the year I should then have the stamina (and lost enough weight through my running) to complete a 26.2 mile run.

There is one other way to make your resolutions work, tell someone. Be accountable. So with that said here is what I propose…you are my “someone”, and I will keep you updated throughout the next year. If you would like to join me please do so, the more the merrier. To find out my resolutions please see my next blog which will be coming out soon. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!