The Resolution to Look at Resolutions in a New Light!

by rhofo72 in Lifestyle Choices, December 20, 2009

A brief guide to approaching the New Year and the desire to make changes in your life.

Exercising! This is a resolution so many of us strive to make a routine in our busy lives. Walking thirty minutes a day or going to the gym seven days a week is a lofty goal. But again, we are walking straight into breaking our resolution due to the high expectation we have set for ourselves. Start the new year off by rephrasing your commitment. Say, “I will make exercise a priority in my life!” This resolution will not restrict us. Now we will be able to feel good about ourselves when we take an early morning walk on a Saturday morning and find thirty minutes on a Wednesday evening to ride that exercise bike that was collecting dust and dirty looks from us each time we walked past it. What is even more valuable about this more realistic resolution is that there is room for positive change. If we can walk one morning and two evenings during one week, we can say, “Hey, this week, I have really met at my new year’s resolution!” However, if we keep the goal that we must exercise daily and miss a few days, we feel terrible about ourselves and are more likely to just give up on exercise all together.

Some may say that these less restrictive resolutions are just people letting themselves slack off. But these more manageable goals will actually allow room for improvement throughout the year, flexibility in our hectic and unpredictable lives , and most importantly, a sense of pride in ourselves for sticking with our resolutions. These three successes are far more productive than the new year’s resolutions being thrown out with the Valentine’s candy boxes at the end of the second month of the year.

So as we all review our lives as the clock strikes midnight on the 31st, be honest, realistic, and committed! Write down that resolution or resolutions! Put that piece of paper somewhere to be seen each morning! Make little steps to create a positive environment for resolutions to flourish! Don’t expect changes or results over night! Resolve to improve in ways that are manageable! Don’t let one bad choice, one bad day, or even one bad month destroy the dedication to success! Don’t let the negative self-talk creep in! Be the loudest cheerleader for the small and big victories! Resolve to fulfill a resolution or many resolutions! This can be done with being realistic and not so hard on ourselves. Set Goals!!! Work Towards Those Goals! But always remember to embrace the slip ups we will all make in striving towards our resolutions because those moments when we did not exercise or ate that extra piece of pizza cannot make us feel like failures if we choose to say, “I will not beat myself up! Rather, I will do my best! I will never allow myself to give up!”