December 2008

I am writing this as New Year’s approaches, listening to all of the ads for the gyms, weight loss programs and anything else that comes with our trying to follow our New Year’s resolutions for more than 5 minutes. It has been thrown at us since we have had a New Year’s that we need to make resolutions. There is a great deal of pressure on us to make a resolution and keep it as long as possible to make us a better person.

I was recently reading a comic strip where the woman had made a resolution to not eat something for a year that wasn’t even available in this country. I like it! She has a good chance of succeeding!

Why make a resolution if you aren’t ready? It is similar to when a wife drags her husband to therapy to work on their marriage and he is not ready yet. (It could also be the husband dragging the wife. I have experienced both!) Therapy is a powerful change agent, if you are ready. If you are not, it is a waste of time and money.

Why make a resolution that you know you do not really want to achieve? Think of the people who have said that they were quitting smoking but have not really made that commitment to themselves yet. You know that they will not be successful.

Why make your resolution on January 1st? It is a totally arbitrary day of the year. If you wake up on February 23rd and decide, today is the day that I get active, then that is the right day to start your resolution.

So, the bottom line here is to start making your life healthy when you are ready, do not force someone else to make their lives better and always, always, make reasonable resolutions.

And may we all have a healthy, happy New Year!