The magic day is January 1, 2012. I will be the first to admit it. Although I have been known to take a mulligan in February and again in March, it seems that January 1st is the day to make positive changes in our lives.
I have to laugh as I think about the new year coming in this weekend. Reading back through some of the resolutions I have made in years past I have made great progress in some areas of my life. Yet, that weight loss thing is still hanging around and has topped the list for the past 6 years. Isn’t that funny? For six years I have been planning to lose weight and for six years I have either maintained my weight or added a pound or two.
Maybe I should not write my resolutions in my personal gratitude journal. But, each year as I start a new journal the first page is filled with things I think I want to do or things I think I should do. This year I am going to be a little more practical. Rather than say I am going to lose those ten pounds I have been thinking about for several years, I’m going to buy a size larger pair of overalls. Why not? Those pounds are a part of me now.
Like most of us I start my January 1st with the best of intentions — and a page full of resolutions. Once upon a time I called them goals. Now I call them wishes. For some reason setting goals that are not really something I am willing to work toward seems to set me up for failure — year after year. (I still have those ten extra pounds.) I am not trying to sound negative. I am trying to be honest.
It is always amusing to me when I start to fall off the resolution band wagon. I start to get wobbly by the third week of January. Last year I was going to walk an extra mile a day. I usually walk about five miles a day — in two 2.5 mile segments. For some reason I thought an extra mile would give me some magical jump on the path to losing those unwanted pounds. I suppose it would have helped, but during the second week of January we had a big snow — big for us. I started out with full determination until I got to the sidewalk and snow managed to sneak over the top of my boots and wet my socks, making my feet feel as if they were frozen. I could have changed socks and started over but the effort was more than I was willing to put forth. I decided to skip the walk of the day. Need I say more?
Anyway, I can’t help buy mull over a few things I would like to accomplish this year. Like it or not, there is something magical about New Year’s Day. It is a new beginning — at least, psychologically. That’s good enough to write a few things in my journal. Everyone likes a little magic. Now, if I can just find that magic wand and make all my resolutions happen. And, if not, at least it will be fun for a day.
