So here we are at January again. It’s hard to believe that another year has gone by and that it is 2016. January. A time for fresh starts. A time to assess where we’ve been and reassess where we are going. A time to make those dreaded New Year’s Resolutions.
After stuffing ourselves silly during the holidays, it’s no wonder that the most common resolutions for the new year are to get in shape and lose weight. But come March, the treadmill is buried under a mountain of clothes; the new running shoes are still in the box; and those extra 10 pounds are still firmly entrenched. Mission aborted. Another New Year’s Resolution down the drain. But then . . . there’s always next year! And therein lies the problem with New Year’s Resolutions: since they only roll around once a year, it’s way too easy to cop out.
Maybe we need to quit living year to year with our resolutions, and instead live day to day. Instead of making New Year’s Resolutions, why not make New Day’s Resolutions? That’s a lot more realistic and our chances of success are exponentially greater. When we treat every day as a fresh start, as a time to assess where we’ve been and reassess where we are going, we live in the moment. We live for today.
New Day’s Resolutions are like baby steps. We’re not worrying about tomorrow, or next week, or next month. Today, I will walk for 20 minutes. And with each successful New Day’s Resolution, the baby steps lengthen to great strides in getting us to our ultimate goal of where we want to be.
In this world where seemingly everything is just a click away, daily resolutions give us instant gratification. No need to wait a year and see how we fared! At the end of the day we can look back and smile at our resolve, and give ourselves a pat on the back for a job well done. And on those days when we come up short on follow-through? Tomorrow’s a new day, and the perfect time to implement or re-implement your New Day’s Resolution.
So lift a glass to the demise of the New Year’s Resolution and to the birth of the New Day’s Resolution. Cheers! And may you have a healthy, happy and prosperous 2016.
Happy New Year!