Yay!! A New Year!!! I’m sure at the end of 2010 each of us had mixed emotions reflecting on the year behind us. Was your A1c where you wanted it? Is your weight what you want? Are you eating as well as you want to eat? Are you exercising as often as your body wants you to exercise?
Maybe, maybe not.
Part of those mixed emotions is for me what makes a new year so exciting. It’s just like back to school shopping: fresh new binders, books, pens and paper with only hope ahead, even though we suspect a year from now we may not be as excited or as hopeful.
But 2011 is filled almost entirely with hope in these early days. Not many of us have gotten lab results back yet, our deductibles haven’t come due, and most of us have yet to even return to work or school. A perfect time to make some resolutions.
Do you have resolutions for 2011 down on paper yet? They don’t have to expire if you haven’t reached your 2010 resolutions yet, either—you can re-use your resolutions from last year as long as you remain focused.
I spent some time over my break from bootcamp to get certified as a Lifestyle and Weight Management Coach. Yes, that was a 2008 resolution, but better late than never! Sometimes life situations cause us to reorganize our priorities… but don’t ever lose your focus on goals that are important to you.
The marathon I ran in January last year was a resolution from 2003, believe it or not. Yes, my stress fracture in 2004 meant I had to bide my time and strengthen my legs to prepare for both of the marathons I tackled in 2010. But I never lost faith in myself or my ability to achieve that goal.
I can’t say I made a resolution to lose weight back in April of 2000. I just knew that waiting another day was only going to delay my reaching my healthy goal. It took me until October of 2002 to reach it, but man did it feel good when I got there.
Resolutions are wonderful things if they are done right. I think a resolution involves a lot of hope, a lot of focus, some flexibility, and confidence in yourself and your abilities. A proper resolution holds with it a fair amount of fear, too—enough to make sure that you really DO want to achieve that goal and that YOU are willing to put in some work to get there.
My best resolutions haven’t been accomplished in a single year: they took daily effort and a lot of baby steps and considerable focus. As you may have read on FaceBook a few months ago: “Discipline is remembering what you want.” -David Campbell
What do you care enough about that you are willing to go after in 2011?
