Sunday, December 30, 2012

The Year Ahead

Welcome 2013!

It’s the tradition to start the year with a handful of New Year’s resolutions that we all know few if any will ever be carried out. Think about it, if I had delivered on all the times I promised to quit smoking (long before I really did some 15+ years ago), if I actually lost all the weight I promised to lose over the years or if I exercised as much as I promised I would either be dead from exhaustion or the healthiest man on the planet.
Don’t get me wrong, I applaud all that can keep their resolutions and actually see them through, both of you. Perhaps it’s what we are trying to accomplish with our resolutions that is the issue. Rather than attempting to reinvent ourselves, what if we just made some ‘minor’ adjustments that will change the way we look at everything.
Here are a couple of examples. Unless absolutely necessary, don’t watch the late night news. Why go to bed thinking of all the bad things going on in the world. Trust me, they will still be there in the morning but you will likely sleep better and have a different approach to the new day.
How about changing the last six cups of coffee in the day to decaf (the horror)? Trust me, the first six cups of regular coffee you had will keep you going. Maybe you find yourself a little less on edge and a bit more patient about things in general.
What about parking in the next row out from your destination or stairs instead of the elevator? A few extra steps each day can be a very healthy thing. It may not be as healthy as a walk everyday or an hour at the gym but you will feel that you started something.
Sometimes I think we have this all or nothing mentality. That’s all well and good but resolutions, like so many things in life, don’t have to be all or nothing. We can “compromise” and take some smaller steps first in order to accomplish the larger goal. Sometimes it’s simply a better attitude, or another prospective or taking the first step toward a larger goal.
Just something to think about as we launch ourselves into the New Year.
More later… in 2013

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