So, it’s the day after New Year’s. January 2nd. How many New Year’s Resolutions have you already broken? Me = zero! Yes, that’s right zero! Because, I actually didn’t make any {grin}.
Well, I kinda, sorta did; if you read my post yesterday, 5 Life Lessons from Dogs, you will know that I’ve adopted these as my 2015 New Year’s Resolutions:
- Eat the best food you can afford.
- Go for a walk, even if it’s raining.
- Take lots of naps.
- Keep your teeth clean and your breathe fresh so that the people you lick will not flinch.
- And when someone you love walks through the door, even if it happens five times a day, go totally insane with joy.
- If someone reaches out to comfort you, accept it graciously.
- Wag your tail often…life is good!
Oh, wait, that’s seven you say? I guess I can’t count. Actually, if you read the post, you’ll know that the first five lessons were written by David Dudley, and published in his story for AARP Magazine out this month. And, the last two are my “bonus” lessons from dogs.
By the way, I can count – I can count to 42. And, since I’m pretty good at counting to 42, I thought I’d share 42 Post-New Year’s Day Resolutions that I have broken, over-and-over-and-over again over my lifetime.
- Lose weight.
- Be more mindful of what I eat.
- Eat only really good food, in other words, don’t eat something mediocre – I don’t need the calories!
- Drink water. In other words, don’t drink soda and other sugar-laden, calorie-heavy drinks.
- Drink less coffee. I’m a coffee addict.
- Limit my coffee consumption to before noon only.
- Don’t eat desserts.
- Don’t eat ice cream.
- Cut refined sugar from my diet.
- Eat more fruits and vegetables.
- Create a weekly menu and stick to it.
- Eat out less.
- Count my steps – take 10,000 of them or more a day.
- Join a gym.
- Spend less.
- Stay out of retail stores.
- Leave my credit cards at home.
- Use cash only.
- If I buy something new, something old has to go buh-bye!
- Save more.
- Create a Christmas fund so that when the holidays come, I don’t go into debt in the new year!
- Read books (I haven’t read a book in several years – just stuff on the internet).
- Go to the movies more often.
- Go someplace special at least once a month.
- Be in the moment.
- Watch more sunsets.
- Eat outside on our patio.
- Get up earlier.
- Watch less TV.
- Clean out my closets and drawers.
- Organize my office.
- Clean out the garage.
- Start a compost pile for real.
- Waste less of everything – food, paper products, makeup and other consumable goods.
- Learn to use my camera.
- Clean out my email folders.
- Read my new car’s manual (well, my “new” car is now 5 years old and I’ve yet to read that darn manual!).
- Write a book.
- Write a cookbook.
- Organize my photos.
- Back-up my photos!
- Take a vacation.
Notice a pattern? The first 14 have to do with weight! Do you have similar New Year’s Resolutions that you’ve made and broken? Why do we set ourselves up for failure every time a new year rolls around?
Well, in my opinion, it’s good to have goals. And, New Year’s Resolutions are goals, in the truest sense. If we don’t establish some goals in our lives, than we don’t achieve them. And, what would life be if we didn’t experience the satisfaction of reaching a goal?
Recently, I read a magazine article about the science of personality. In this article, it said that “people are more likely to stick to the task if their goals are their own rather than ones that they are pursuing out of guilt or fear.” Well, 99% of the above New Year’s Resolutions that I’ve made (and broken) were made out of guilt.
So, this year’s New Year’s Resolution (beside the 5 Life Lessons from Dogs plus two more) is just to let go of guilt. Let it go. Let it be.
Tootles,
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Good idea to let go of guilt…I liked the post; it makes me think about all my past resolutions as well.
Thanks, Dawn. I think (maybe?) we’ve just reached that age where things don’t bother us as much? Even failure?