New Year's Resolutions - To Keep or Not to Keep

Thanks to my friend, Slim Randles, for another fun post. I think I am way too much like Annette. (smile) Somehow I've always thought New Year's Goals would be much easier to think about than resolutions. Resolutions are so definite.

 
Annette George, owner of the Soup ‘R Market, picked up the list of her New Year’s resolutions:

  1. Replace cracked glass on the meat cooler.
  2. Walk two miles each morning before work.
  3. Lose 15 pounds by summer.
  4. Take a class in Spanish.

She thought about the kind of person she’d be at this time next year with all those things done, and it made her smile. Then she looked out the window at the snow and crossed off number two. “Each morning” was just too … too, inflexible. It’s always best, she thought to make promises you can keep.

Annette tapped her teeth with the pencil.

The Spanish class was in the city, and with gas prices being what they are … well, she could always pick up a Spanish grammar book at the Read Me Now bookstore. Number 4 reluctantly had a line drawn through it.

 You know, that glass has been cracked on the meat cooler for six years now, and it has never caused any kind of health threat. So the line up the glass causes a slight distortion as a shopper looks at a pork chop. So what? And have you seen what they get to replace that glass?

 The pencil drew again, slowly but deliberately.

 This left number three: lose 15 pounds by summer. This is one she will not scratch off. She remembers sitting by the swimming hole on Lewis Creek last summer watching the kids swimming. Next summer, she’ll swim with them. She will lose those 15 pounds. How? Well, by … eating better. Sure. Maybe one of those chocolate milkshake supplements each morning. Well, better not say each morning, but … whenever, you know.  And walking. How much? Who knows? But walking.

Yes. Walking. Losing 15 pounds. By summer. She smiled and decided to celebrate with a candy bar.

Only one, of course.

 Life is good.

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Read free samples of Slim’s books at www.slimrandles.com.

New Year's Resolutions

Now is the time to throw out the old and ring in the new. The natural response to the beginning of a New Year is usually optimistic and goal-centered. This is when we do some personal housecleaning, getting excited about resolutions that will make us better parents, better employees, better people, and maybe even thin again.

Innumerable resolutions have been made over the course of history, and I've often wondered where they end up when they aren't kept. Is there a "resolution junkyard" somewhere littered with all those promises we made with zeal and determination on Jan. 1, and forgot by Jan. 10?

The basic problem with me and resolutions is that most of the time I'm just too tough on myself. I've set unattainable goals in a quest for perfection that is simply not in my realm of capabilities. So, in an attempt to defray frustration, I start making minor, reasonable
adjustments to my resolutions ...

Instead of giving up fattening desserts, I'm going to give up caviar and Chateaubriand.

Instead of organizing my office, I'm going to learn to live with my own efficiency plan -- "leave everything where I know I can find it."

Instead of learning to be a gourmet cook, I'll order my take-out food from Chef Tell.

Instead of cutting down on the amount of time I spend reading, I'll take 10 minutes of every hour and walk around the house with my book so I get some exercise.

Instead of trying to be a perfect Mom, I'll just let my kids think what they want of me....

... and the list goes on.

But under the jokes we can make about the annual tradition of New Year's resolutions, there is something good and wholesome about the concept of fresh starts and new beginnings. It fills us with a sense of hopefulness and positive power. We are strong. We're invincible.

Well, maybe that's going too far. . .

But seriously, we all need the renewal of spirit and hope the celebration of the whole holiday season brings us. For Christians it starts with the Advent preparation with its theme of eager anticipation. It's punctuated dramatically with the fulfillment of promises on Christmas Day, giving us new life in the birth of Jesus. And it culminates in the atmosphere of exciting possibilities for growth and change presented to us in the New Year.

Even though I know I'm the world's worst resolution-keeper, each year I always feel energized as I contemplate all that can be accomplished with the time stretching before me. I welcome the opportunity to set new goals, or resurrect old goals with a renewed
conviction that this year I can do better.

So here's to all our resolutions. May none of them end up in the junkyard.

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On another note: My YA novel, Friends Forever, is FREE for Kindle for the next few days. If you have young readers in your family, this might be a good time to try the book. 
BLURB:
     Friendship is a tenuous thing when you’re thirteen and everything in your life is changing, especially your best friend. Debbie Webly is terrified that she will lose Laura to the influence of Angie who is rich, beautiful, and the most popular girl in school. There’s not much Debbie won’t do to hang on to her friend, but will she cross some line that she can never come back from?