Every year begins with a slew of resolutions for many
people. People load up on more resolutions than they can possibly keep track
of, and they’re usually just vague enough to guarantee failure by February.
Lose weight. Give up smoking. Be nicer. Exercise more.
However, those are not goals; they’re headings.
Lose weight? How much weight? What’s your strategy? What’s
your time frame? Is it a sensible amount that you can reasonably expect to
lose?
Give up smoking. I’m told this one is quite difficult. I
don’t know since I’ve never been a smoker. Still, how to go about it? Use a
non-smoking patch? Go cold turkey? Gradually decrease the amount you smoke
until you’ve reached zero? Again, what’s the strategy, and is it reasonable?
What does “be nicer” mean? Nicer than what? How are you
going to achieve it? How will you know when you’ve arrived?
I grew up in a time that, to quote George H.W. Bush, was a
kinder, gentler time, even though we had global fears: Someone else dropping
the bomb, the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War. But
children showed respect to their elders (or else), and were not catered to as
if they were in charge. “Please” and “Thank you” were expectations, not
requests. People were not seen in public in pyjamas. People held doors
routinely for others.
Some people still adhere to these rules, but they appear to
come as more of a surprise in a world where a large portion of the population
rarely looks up from their phones.
Exercising more is easy to put into a routine. How many
times a week, how long each session, and precisely what exercise will be
done? It can be as simple as taking a
break every 20 minutes or so from work at the computer to stretch and walk across
the room and back to start, or walking around the block. Or, it can involve a
gym membership or working out with weights.
With our electronic gadgetry, many people already insist on
a certain number of steps in a day. Personally, I look at mileage instead. I
have a goal of 2 miles a day as a minimum, although some days that doesn’t
happen.
The problem appears when the resolution remains too vague or
the individual is too gung-ho to begin with and takes on too much. Jumping into
weight training with too heavy a weight can lead to sore muscles or even
injuries, and that, in turn, leads to slacking until the pain subsides.
Sometimes, even after the muscles stop hurting, the exercise program is
forgotten. Gym memberships are at a peak
in January, but gyms are far emptier by the middle of February, even when snow
isn’t a factor.
Overcoming procrastination is the biggest obstacle to
success where New Year’s resolutions are concerned.
I’m in the “lose weight” category. My strategy is that I
have a fixed amount I wish to lose. I know approximately how much I generally
lose per week when I’m trying, and I have figured out when I expect to reach
the goal weight. Of course, I’ve always been plagued by plateaus, so I still
have to figure out how to make weight loss work for me when I hit a plateau.
One thing I absolutely will not be doing is using the highly
popular diabetes medications currently being touted as weight loss drugs. I am
not diabetic, and I prefer the “less is more” attitude about weight loss. I
don’t want to have to rely on a drug for the rest of my life to maintain weight
loss. I don’t want to treat myself for a disease I don’t have.
Granted, some people can only achieve weight loss that way,
but I’ve demonstrated in the past that I am able to lose weight with a proper
eating plan and no drugs. I’m not putting anyone down for using them. They’re
just not for me.
I also have reasons for wanting to lose weight, and being
the hottest-looking senior on the beach is not one of them. Besides, that’s not
even an achievable goal for me. Instead, I want to reach a point where I won’t
have to take medications I’m currently prescribed, and I’m also trying to keep
from developing type 2 diabetes. So, the eating program is of key importance in
my weight loss journey. It’s part of an overall health improvement goal.
My second goal is related.
I want to become more consistent with my exercise routine, both number
of times per week that I go to the gym and types of exercises I do. I need to
add exercises to improve my postural muscle function, balance, and flexibility.
I’ve been thinking about adding tai chi to what I already do, but I need to
find out more about it. I already have a variety of exercises I plan to use.
I have also decided to learn French. I know, Irish and Welsh
aren’t enough? But I can’t find classes in either of those, and the programs,
either online or in apps don’t meet my needs as far as learning strategies go.
For example, I completed the Rosetta Stone program in Welsh (which has been
discontinued) and still can’t speak the language beyond a few phrases. Our
local high school’s evening adult program offers the basic foreign languages
(Spanish, French, German, Italian, and now Chinese) in classes over three
levels and two conversation classes. With instruction, I stand a better chance
of learning. I know how I best learn a foreign language. This will involve more
than a year, but resolutions don’t have to end with the New Year’s Eve party.
I think three is the absolute maximum – for me, at least –
number of resolutions. More than that, and the whole idea of turning over a new
leaf turns into planting an entire tree (i.e. overwhelming and unachievable).
I’ll check back in next year to report on whether or not
I’ve succeeded in following my own advice.
