Resolutions: It is afterall a New Year.

Today is January 1, 2010, the first day of a “new year”. Depending on a variety of factors from budget and temperature to romantic status you celebrated New Year’s Eve; be it a swanky (and likely overpriced) party downtown, an all you can drink “meal ticket” at a local bar, a house party or snuggling up to loved ones at home, you joined the greater population in jubilation of the new year to come. I am one of the calloused who finds this holiday to be a bit over dramatized and one which typically fails to deliver on all the fun you set out to have. This could very well be because I live in Minnesota, the frozen tundra of the world, and so making plans on a December evening which will likely include a small dress tends to greatly limit your options. Secondly and even more obvious is the Valentine’s Day appearance NYE seems to harbor. There are few things more depressing than having no one to kiss at midnight when surely everyone around you does. Of course some would argue that a NYE kiss does not need to be a romantic one, but when you’ve had so few of those in her time – my quota for friendly embraces has far been surpassed. Now beyond what may seem to be a perfectly bahumbug outlook on such a joyous event, I am not as angry as I might initially come off. I enjoy a good reason to drink wine, eat appetizers, to dress up, laugh and party with loved ones as much as the next person - I just have a fairly particular bone to pick with this holiday; resolutions made only for New Years.

Jumping on the computer today I am bombarded with messages to “Make 2010 the year you keep your NY resolutions.” I agree that the mentality of resolutions is profound and undeniably important, but reserving them for one day of the year seems counterintuitive to me. It would suggest that we spend the other 364 days of the year focusing on a plan we made on Jan 1 alone, but shouldn’t this be an exercise we perform on a daily basis? And furthermore what significance does January 1 hold? Who decided that this would be the start of a new year anyways and why do we even need a new year, or to calculate the passing of time at all? Clearly I am starting to sound like a rambling fool but all I mean to point out in my rapidly expanding run on sentence is that we need to make the effort for resolutions on a daily basis, because as they say life is short and there may not be a tomorrow.

I, like so many others, used New Year’s Eve as a jumping off point so many times. In fact it was exactly ten years ago to the day that I began my weight loss journey (perhaps battle would be a more accurate description?). Amazing to me that I have spent the past 3642 days of my life making a daily resolution to improve myself physically – it has been a very long and trying road and one better reserved for an entirely different entry but a clear example of how NYE made a real and lasting impact on my life. Certainly change can be prompted by a new year’s resolution. Yet somehow over the years as I have watched loved ones lose battles to disease, made impossible goodbyes, learned of wars and seen pain and hurt around me, I have come to the realization that I need to wake up every day with the perspective that I can affectively change my circumstance.

Human nature dictates that we will always want. Even with clothes on our backs, air in our lungs and food in our bellies, we cannot help ourselves but hope to change ourselves, improve our situation, to acquire new knowledge, skills and reach any number of intangible goals. But why wait for Monday to start a diet? Who says that you need to have a rockin bod to sport a two piece at the beach? And when do we think that this “time” we all speak of will magically fall into our laps to learn a new language, go back to school, travel more, smoke less, love more, hate less, to right wrongs, to catch up with old friends? The list goes on and on. “Carpe Diem” “No day but today”. If you want it, desire it, hope for it – make it happen – today. And each morning you are blessed enough to open your eyes - take a deep breath into your lungs and remind yourself of those resolutions.