Old resolutions are tried again

Have you broken all of your resolutions yet? I haven’t, but only because I haven’t made any.
I don’t bother to make resolutions anymore. I simply dust off the same ones I have made every year for as long as I can remember. I’m sure that there are several goals you have that have been around for awhile also.
There is the ever popular resolution to lose weight. This is often paired with the resolution to get in shape. I resolve to do both of these every year and every year I fail miserably.
Most resolutions involve us trying to meet some artificial ideal. Face it, no matter how much we diet and exercise we will never look like Barbie or Ken. Six-pack abs and a tiny waist are unrealistic goals for most people my age and indeed, for most people of any age. Couple that with ancestors who are shaped like beanbags and you have a recipe for failure.
Having said that, I must admit that my niece, the one who ran the Boston Marathon for the first time this year, has acquired the physique that most of us aspire to. Of course, she runs miles and miles every day, rain, snow or sun. The amount of work she puts into maintaining that perfect body tires me out just listening to her routine. Lest you think she is a lady of leisure who does nothing but train, I must tell you that she is a full-time art teacher and a volunteer firefighter. I think she also does some catering in her spare time. Plus, as far as we know, her ancestors aren’t shaped like beanbags.
She is an exceptional woman in many ways and only she knows the price she pays for her life.
The trouble with resolutions is that they are too broad. They focus on the end result when everybody knows that the journey is far more important than the destination. The other problem with resolutions is that we fail to plot out the route. We wouldn’t take a cross-country trip without a map, so why do we think that by simply resolving to meet some artificial ideal we can achieve that ideal with not even the faintest clue of how to go about it?
Instead of making the same useless resolutions perhaps we should dust off old dreams and do what we can to make them a reality. In lieu of resolving to do something meaningless like lose weight or reshape our bodies, why don’t we do the little things that will let us achieve our dreams? If you want to write the great American novel, first you have to write a sentence. If you want to run a marathon, first you have to get up out of your chair. If you want to do anything, you have to take the first tiny step then keep on going no matter what.
We need to plan for potential obstacles just like we realize that no matter which way we travel, there will always be road construction and sometimes confusing detours.
It is the ones who can maneuver around the detours and who have patience to deal with road construction who will arrive at their destination with a smile on their faces. It does no good to retreat the first time we run into a problem. My niece calls running in miserable weather, “character runs,” and even though she would rather stay inside she runs anyway. People who achieve their goals have this same determination.
Maybe that is why I have never managed to keep my resolutions. I would much rather stay inside with a good book than go outside when the weather is nasty. I have never gone on a character run in my life and don’t plan to start now.
Maybe my new resolution will be to accept myself for who I am and not who I want to be. Then again, that probably won’t be any easier than my usual resolutions.[[In-content Ad]]