habits

Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.

I had great plans to start the year out with a post about my non-resolutions resolution. I blinked and missed the whole first week of January. Seriously, time flew. Here it is January 7^th and I am still trying to wrap my head around the fact it is 2014!

I admit I am like the majority of people and usually throw out a couple of resolutions knowing full well I won’t make it past the first few weeks before I break them. It is easy to laugh off a resolution to lose weight or exercise more. They are the standard resolutions bandied about and dismissed after a few weeks, right? Why is that?

A resolution by its very definition can be hard work. Getting in shape after being an absolute slug for the previous twelve months requires commitment – not to mention sore muscles that make walking agony. Somewhere along the line it becomes too hard to find time in a busy schedule to go to gym. Old habits rear their ugly heads and after a long day the couch holds more appeal than sweating through an exercise class. I guess I want instant gratification and grow impatient. Ouch.

I did something a little different this time. I looked at the shiny expanse of a new year filled with endless possibilities and then turned back to review the year that just ended. I discovered something amazing. My year had been filled with incredible events and excitement! Sadly, I missed the significance of much of it at the time because I was too focused on where I thought I was failing. It took looking back at the year as a whole to put everything in perspective and finally recognize my achievements.

I knew I didn’t want to set myself up for failure and inadvertently dull the shimmering promise stretched before me with this year. I didn’t want to feel discouraged before the year even got a good start. I sure as heck didn’t want to miss those incredible moments I had overlooked in 2013 because I was too focused on all that still needed to be done.

Thus, my non-resolution resolution came into being. Instead of resolutions I will probably break I am tasking myself with living in the moment, to savor all the successes – big or small – that happen over the next twelve months. I plan to be kinder to myself and think in terms of doable changes to improve my health and well-being, not go at it hard and heavy right out of the gate and burn myself out with discouragement. I will nurture my friendships and the people I love. I give myself permission to laugh myself silly on occasion and enjoy the ridiculous. I won’t be as hesitant to explore new things or take the road less traveled. Side roads can prove more interesting than the direct path and still get me where I am going in the end.

I want to see the end of 2014 as the year I enjoyed to its fullest. No regrets.

I hope each of you follow your dreams in 2014 and enjoy every success. I plan to 🙂