It is January 21st or about three weeks into those New Year’s resolutions. How are you doing with them so far? Have you read those extra books, started to loss those pounds, eaten those extra veggies?
To be honest, this year I didn’t make a resolution.
I got a jump start on exercising and eating a little better in October. I want to believe that I did that to beat the New Year’s gym sign-up rush, but in all honesty, I did it because I am terrible at following through on my resolutions.
I have not kept a single New Year’s resolution ever! In fact I doubt I have kept a single resolution until the end of February. The story for me was always the same. I would resolve to either a) start going to the gym or b) stop eating fast food. And for a while I would do it. I would sign up and pay my gym fees. I would brave the shame of placing my flabby body on to a treadmill and hope upon hope I wouldn’t embarrass myself. I would pack my lunch and avoid a quick burger.
But then it would happen. It was the same thing every time. With the gym it would be my first cold. I would have a bit of a cough and kind of a runny nose. I would think to myself, ‘well I can’t go to the gym now, I don’t want to spread all these germs, plus *cough cough* I can’t exercise like this – I can hardy breath’.
Since we all know that man-colds last for two weeks or more my gym career would die right there in a pile of snot filled Kleenex. My fast food ban wouldn’t even last that long. All it would take would be the one day that my schedule got thrown off and bam – I was off the burger wagon.
But my biggest mistake with resolutions wasn’t that I failed. Of course I was going to fall out of the habit of going to the gym, and I would fall back on my old habit and pick up a quick bite in a rush. My problem was I assumed if I failed at a New Year’s resolutions I would have to wait until next year to try again.
Maybe you are like me and you have already ‘failed’ your most recent attempt at self-improvement. I want to pass along to you 3 quick pieces of advice;
- New Year’s Resolutions don’t have to be renewed annually. Ok so it is three weeks in and you are already smoking again, or you have only read an extra book to your kid(s) once, or the closest thing to fruit in your fridge is Jell-O. That’s ok just try again. January 1st was a new year, but January 22 is a new day. Resolutions are best lived daily.
- Be realistic about your goals. My problem with the gym was I wanted to see a lot of results fast. But I didn’t stop to think that I didn’t see the negative results fast either. It has taken me 11 years to go from pretty slim to blubbery. What made me think it would only take me 11 days to start to turn back?
- Don’t worry about giving it your all right away. Give your new goal all you have to give right now. Then as you feel more comfortable and more confident give it more and more and more, until you really are striving at your new goal with all you are worth.
January 2015 is a long way off still. Make sure you make the best of this year!
Christopher Drew is the pastor at Sackville Baptist Church. He is the father for three and the husband of one. He is a self professed geek and gamer. Read more about family, faith, and geekery at http://ModernManOfTheCloth.com