New Year's Resolution

Resolutions are quite the double edged sword. Full of glowy positivity in January, and Hopelessness by April -- just in time for tax season.

Am I being cynical? I think the thought of a new year resolution puts most people in a frame of mind as to what they are going to wake up and do tomorrow and it will be for the foreseeable future.

They say it takes 100 days to form a habit, but I think that's assuming that you're doing something every day. So, maybe it's 100 instances. So all the people who are showing up at my gym right now, that start disappearing 6 weeks later probably need another 6 weeks (minimum) to become a habit. More likely, they are coming an average of 3 times a week, so 12+ times a month -- that would be about 9 months to become a habit. 4 times a week, 16+ times a month -- and you're down to around 6 months... But either way it would take some time.

OK, I'm not really resolving anything with this rant.

But, Does something have to become a habit to be a worthwhile resolution? Does it need to be something that's a comprehensive change. Or can it be a goal? I want to pay off my car, something like that? But that seems already within my grasp. I don't feel like I have to offer resolve to get that achieved. So it doesn't really seem to make the grade as a resolution.

But what I have seen, over the last year, is an improved resolve to move on a regular basis. I have recast what I resolve to do, to put it within my grasp and suddenly it starts to get easier. And, while I may not meet some pie in the sky resolution, I do get closer and closer to the goal.

But, can I achieve the outcome without a resolution? I think the truth is yes.

This is startling because most of the history of modern story telling is about a sudden change of heart, realization, or transformation of a person. Not the steady, plodding, slow transition, as a glacier across an epoch. But here it was this morning. I lost two pounds since last year (and I was wearing heavy boots this year). Yeah, if I'd had a resolution it could have been more, but the small changes that I could commit to made it two pounds - and that's better than the five pounds gained the year before. Here's to the slow burn, and resolve, being regarded as what it truly is, a question you approach time and again, and each time you bite off a little more, and then you see some results and you have resolve.