Millions of Americans made New Year’s Resolutions last year, almost as many broke those resolutions before the end of January. Yet, there are those that swear by making resolutions. They say you can change your life overnight just by writing it down. Both are right, but it depends on how you define a resolution. The best resolutions are simply goals. If not written down those goals are simply dreams. If they are just written down they are resolutions. If they are written down with the needed steps to attain them written down as well they become plans are the ones that succeed.
One of the most popular New Year’s Resolutions is to lose weight. If left at those two words they are indeed a dream. The next step would be to determine how much weight you are going to lose, by what date, and how you are going to go about it. If asked how many people will say they are going to watch what they eat. If you don’t understand what you eat, and how it affects you, you aren’t going to get very far with that one. On the other hand if you make the rules too stringent you will give up before the week is over. Most of us have refrigerators full of goodies that we or some well meaning relative made for Christmas.
The best way to make the dream of losing weight a goal is to develop a plan that cuts calories, but not too much, and adds activities, again in moderation. Why do I say you have to have moderation? Anything too drastic will be hard to maintain. When you draw up this plan put in a response you will have to birthday parties and other social gatherings. If you are cutting out all sweets how will you handle the pushy mom that somehow thinks it’s an insult to her child if you don’t eat some of his birthday cake? What are you going to do about the dinner party that is only serving all the wrong foods? If you plan these encounters ahead of time it is easier to deal with them when they happen.
Another favorite New Year’s Resolution is to get healthier. That sounds like a wonderful resolution. How do you turn that from a dream into a plan? The first thing is to figure out what you are doing that is making your health bad. Then you need to decide how you are going to change that. This can be harder than it sounds. Sometimes there are multiple things you need to change, in that case take them one at a time.
What if the worst assault on your health is something you can’t, or don’t want to change? What if it is a spouse that insists on chain smoking in the house? Not only are they filling their own lungs with chemicals such as tar, nicotine, and cadmium, but they are doing the same to you. Even if they step outside while they have the actual cigarette they are bringing those chemicals back inside with them where you will either breathe them or absorb them through your skin. It is situations like this that make the resolution to ‘get healthier’ pretty tricky.
What if you don’t know what is affecting your health? There is a new industry springing up that can help you. They go by many different names, some of them recognized by insurance companies, and some of them are not. The one I use is “Wholistic rejuvenationist”. The wonderful doctor that developed this concept calls herself the “Health Detective” because that is a simple way of describing what we do. Through working with the diagnoses you doctor has given you, or what you are noticing about your life we investigate what it is in your diet, lifestyle or environment that could be impacting your health. If there are things you can’t change we look at what you can do with your diet, supplementation and lifestyle that will make improvements.
Another New Year’s resolution that is very popular is to make more money. In today’s world this is truly a pipe dream unless and until you come up with a detailed plan. In the past you good glibly say that you are going to get a better job, as if they were in the store for you to simply pick out what you want. Today’s reality is very different from that. In order to get a better job you need to improve what you have to offer an employer. You may even need to do that to keep the job you have. In the past people could dream of starting their own businesses. That is still possible, but you have to plan better than past generations. Make sure what you want to offer is something that will help others, that they will really want.
There are two reasons I say ‘help others’ instead of just looking at the marketability of a plan. If you are truly helping others in your business that in itself is a reward, and can help you wait until the monetary rewards start flowing in. On the flip side, if what you are offering ultimately hurts others it will eventually wear on you, and even tons of money will not completely satisfy you. That type of dissatisfaction is one of the things that will rob you of good health.
A favorite New Year’s Resolution is ‘world peace’. Before you go spouting off those lofty words ask yourself what your personal part is going to be. Write down a step by step plan as to how you as a single individual are going to accomplish this monumental task. If you look through history you will see that it has never been accomplished. But, if you think you can do it, take it on! Just don’t get discouraged as you see others are not cooperating with your noble concepts.
What are my goals for this year? To continue the eating plan that I have been on that has allowed me to lose some weight. I won’t tell you what my goal is, but I already have to think about new clothes. I am also going to incorporate more physical activity into my days. This will be tough, because my days are already pretty full, but it will be worth it. I am also going to live by a Bible Verse: “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” Romans 12:18. I will also seek ways to improve my health. I will become my own detective to seek out the habits that are not allowing me to improve my health.
Another goal I have for the New Year is to help others on their quest to improve their own health. I will seek out new ways to share the knowledge I have. I will also seek out products that will help people in their quest for improved health. As they become available I will bring them to the website, and explain why I think they are valuable. Then it is up to the individual to determine if they are something that will help them move forward in their own quest.
So I am wishing for you and yours a healthy and prosperous New Year. Wherever you are on that journey, just make sure you are always moving in the right direction!
