Sunday, January 1, 2012

Auld Lang Syne


Its at this time of year that it seems like no matter where you look there is ads for gyms, health clubs and diet plans that promise this year will be the year their classes will help you to shed that last 10 pounds, their trainers will take your body from flab to fab or their dietitians will help you look on the outside how you have always felt on the inside.  This in turn will make you look better in your swimsuit, help you meet the partner of your dreams and get you into the single digit jean size you haven't seen since, well since you were a single digit age.  All you have to do is come in and sign yourself up and you will be one step closer be the healithiest and fittest you have ever been.

Really?  All I had to do was sign up?


How did a single day become the day to make promises to yourself and the rest of the world that when you wake up you will be the person you have always wanted to be?  The person who doesn't smoke, doesn't drink, is 10 lbs lighter, eats cleaner, is more active and in general just an all around more healthy person.  If each year of your life was like a lap in a perpetual race then January 1st would be like the starting line where you can reset and begin all over again hopeful to avoid the same health pitfalls as the lap before.   What is it that holds most people back from choosing to make a change in their life any other day in a year. Why so much pressure to be healthier starting on New Years.  As I have come to realize since last April, goals are important and actually essential when you are trying to change your lifestyle. But why do so many people feel it necessary to make this commitment just as the ball is dropping in Time Square.  The pressure to live up to the hype surrounding these kind of resolutions is so powerful that you are almost self sabotaging your efforts before you even get to Valentine's Day. 

I am not in the habit of making New Year's Resolutions but not because I don't believe they don't work for some people but simply because the few times I did partake in this age old tradition I never stuck with it.  Goals that should have resulted in positive warm fuzzies ended in me feeling crummy because I never followed through.   There was the year I promised myself to worry less.   Hahaha does a zebra have stripes?  The 3 year stretch in University I swore I would drink less and study more, starting the next morning of course.  There was even one New Years Eve after a rather disappointing rendezvous, I swore off dating.   Hmmmmmm....I see a pattern.  All lofty goals with results that would require more than just self discipline and a decent game plan.  Things that subconsciously I knew would require a significant alteration of my lifestyle. The kind of alteration I was never really ready or willing to make.  Thus each and every time I promised myself one of these things I ultimately failed.   It took me a long time to realize that if I was going to make a life change I couldn't just say I was going to do it.  Figuratvely speaking, I was going to have to get off the couch put down the bag of chips, make a realistic plan and then spend some time really examininig the parts of my life that would require my attention to carry out this plan.  Why do you think it took me until I was 29 to make my health my priority? Making a positive life change is hard, no matter when you decide to do it.   So if this is your year, the year you have decided to be the "real" healthy you, stick with it and don't be another New Year's Eve statistic. 


 

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