Thursday, January 17, 2008

New Year’s Resolutions

Still relevant, because I say so.

Aren't everyone's the same?

Lose Weight.

Exercise more.

Be healthier.

Some people’s are more specific than others. (Lose 15 lbs, work out 3 times a week, actually go to the gym occasionally if nothing else to see what they’re using my money for.) But they generally fall under the same categories. Even more so if you include mental health in the “be healthier” category – you could even add stop cursing like a sailor, or be nice to other people.

One time I gave up caffeine for like 2 years. And then I had finals and it was all downhill from there.

And this other time I gave up milk and milk products for like 8-9 months. Fine, it wasn’t a resolution, but it felt like one.

One year even I resolved to not resolve anything ever again. And I totally broke that the next year.

I tried keeping my resolutions secret, and I tried screaming them from mountaintops. It doesn’t seem to matter which way I go, I just do not resolve well.

I have, in my lifetime, only had one resolution that stuck. To drink more water. I was like 14 at the time and probably read an article about how great water is in "Seventeen" magazine. And since we all know that "Seventeen" magazine is the very best at fact checking and a great resource for all your medical advice, I started carrying around a water bottle. I carried it around from then until I graduated from college (not the same one, how gross do you think I am?) and then I switched to an insulated tumbler. I drink water all day long. I probably drink more water during the work day than I do on weekends, but I even have a large cup of water on my bedside table every night.

I would love to hear if anyone out there has actually succeeded in a resolution. I don’t get a lot of comments and people certainly don’t seem to answer my questions, but I am genuinely curious that if we continually (as I do) fail to actually succeed in continuing our resolutions, why do we keep making them every year? Tradition? Tradition of failure?

3 comments:

Aunt Becky said...

This is the first year that I have actually made resolutions. Mainly because if I make them and I can't complete them, I feel like a failure. I'm a freak like that.

So I resolved several things I believe I might actually be able to do: lose the rest of the baby weight, stop lactating, and sleep more. None of these are binding, but hey, I tried.

Anonymous said...

That was water in that bottle? We all thought it was vodka. Now everything I thought I knew about high school is wrong.

I'm pretty bad about making resolutions with unrealistic expectations, but I space them out throughout the year. It's no good to feel like a total failure by the time spring rolls around.

Anonymous said...

There were times that it would have been more helpful if it did have vodka in it...like today.