New Year's Resolutions

Every new year people make resolutions to change aspects of themselves

they believe are negative. A majority of people revert back to how

they were before and feel like failures. This year I challenge you

to a new resolution. I challenge you to just be yourself.

Aisha Elderwyn

This past weekend I did something I always do on the weekend before the New Year is ushered in. I dug out my old 'Resolution' book, not to write new ones....I stopped making resolutions several years ago....but as a reminder of the me I used to be. You see, every year it was the same thing. "I will stop smoking" was always at the top of the list, but I never did. In fact, I never made it past my morning coffee. It was the same thing with "I will lose weight", but I never lost a pound. On the contrary, each year I steadily gained a few pounds. There were other resolutions in my book as well, but aside from 'getting healthier' the above two were the most significant ones. Year after year the same failed resolutions. 

This is a time of retrospect for most of us. On the 1st of the year, we review the year that has passed, find what we need to give thanks for, and make our New Year's resolutions with great hope and anticipation for the upcoming year. It is an annual ritual in our society as we bid farewell to the old and ring in the new year. However, most of those resolutions are nothing more than words written on paper.
We are not going to quit smoking because we don't 'want' to quit smoking.  That weight is not going to come off because we are not ready to give up our eating habits.  And, this, as I have recently found out, catches up to us when we least expect it...which brings me to the point I am trying to make.

When it comes to a habit, we can have all the best intentions in the world, but if you are not fully committed, it just isn't going to happen. In other words, our resolutions often fail because they're based on what we THINK we should do and not what we really WANT to do. Furthermore, we often make too many of them, and psychologically speaking, the more numerous our resolutions, the more likely for us to feel justified in breaking any one of them because we tell ourselves, "It's okay. I have others to fall back on," and before we know it, we've  broken all of them.

So, we continue with our facade and good intentions year after year, but for some of us, it takes a real eye-opener to make us finally succeed, but our success has nothing to do with the fact that we wrote it in the book on the 1st of the year.  No, some of us need a real kick in the butt to finally 'get it'. In 2009 I once again made the same resolution I made for almost 40 years...to stop smoking, but it wasn't until July 4th that I finally did it, and not because I wanted to.  I stopped because I couldn't make it up the subway stairs. I couldn't catch my breath. Smoking had finally caught up with me, and if I am going to be totally honest here, if that hadn't happened, I probably would still be lighting up. It is the same with my health.  Years of not taking care of myself finally took their toll.

Hubby and I have nothing special planned tonight. Those days of hanging out partying til the wee hours of dawn are long gone for both  of us, and juving worked in a bar, a restaurant, and in catering on New Year's Eve, I have no desire to partake in the festivities.  A quiet evening at home is all that I long for.  Each year hubby goes to one of our favorite restaurants and we feast on this fantastic chicken roasted on the spit and yucca steamed in olive oil, vinegar and tons of lots onions.  Makes my mouth water just thinking about it. Yesterday I made a pernil, gondulas and rice, and salad...a typical Spanish meal.  And now, after that, it is time to get myself back on track. Not that I have done THAT bad over the holidays.  But, I have gone over my daily sodium limit...and calories...and next Monday I have to see the doctor.  If I don't get myself in gear, she is really going to hand me the riot act on a silver platter. Seriously, though, it is very easy for me to fall back on bad habits...and the fact is, these bad habits can kill me.  I want to live.

Do you make New Year's resolutions? Most adults do. How successful have you been in keeping your resolutions?