New Years Resolutions

New Years Resolutions are for suckers.

New Year’s Resolutions (picture from: www.adorecolour.com)

It amazes me how people seem to pick New Years Day of any given year as the day, in which, they resolve to change their lives. It’s as if the stroke of midnight on December 31st immediately erases all the bad habits that have doomed us over the previous 365 days. Or that somehow everything will change for the better immediately following the customary champagne toast and mindless grope under the mistletoe.

“I will quit smoking.”

“I will find a better job.”

“I will eat better and be healthier.”

“I will spend more time with my kids/parents/friends/etc.”

“I will invest more for the future.”

The unfortunate truth is that change doesn’t happen over night; that most resolutions last maybe a few weeks. Depending on which poll and stats are to be believed, 92% of people fail to achieve their resolutions. (Personally, I would’ve guessed that to be higher.)

Yeah. It’s fun to boast to your friends and family that this year will be different. That this year will finally be the turning point to a better life. Fortunately, your friends and family know you’re full of shit but not to worry: they still love you anyway.

Last year at this time, I penned Don’t resolve. Just do. in which I pushed for setting smaller, more achievable goals. Goals that essentially are building blocks for larger, more significant, changes.

But even then, that wasn’t the point. The point was to simply do your best every day. Do what’s right. Be a good friend, parent, co-worker, and spouse.

If that day is January 4th, fine. When you wake up on February 3rd, do it. On April 1st? Ditto. And keep in mind: it’s not an all-or-none proposition. No one expects perfection from anyone else nor should we expect it from ourselves.

As a reminder, though, here’s what I wanted to work on and build towards in 2013:

“Personally, I plan to lose some weight, run a couple of Warrior Dashes and 5ks, show more tolerance with the twins, be a better husband and if I’m lucky, maybe even drink more diet Mountain Dew (inside joke).”

2013 Results.

Lose weight. – I failed on this one. Though looking at my weight in January 2013 to what it is today, I didn’t gain any weight. So that’s something I guess.

Two Warrior Dashes and a few 5k runs. – Partial success. While I did run both the Nebraska and Illinois Warrior Dash, I did not run any additional 5ks. I blame injuries (namely a nagging plantar fascia). That and the fact that after running in a few mud-runs, regular 5ks are just boring as hell.

Be a better family man. – Basically this isn’t for me to judge. Did I show more tolerance towards the twins? I’d like to think so but ask them. Was I a better husband? Again, maybe, but the wife might think differently.

Drink more Diet Mountain Dew. – Indeed I did drink more Dew. Unfortunately, the desired results never came to be. (Yeah. I don’t expect you to understand that one…)

So? Was 2013 a good or bad year for me? Well. The Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup, the twins are awesome and I’ve got a wife who loves me. I traveled to Arizona for the first time, began writing a book, and uhhh… well I guess that’s enough, huh?

(How did you do?)

Still. It’s not always about the big things; the big accomplishments (or even failures). It’s not about checking things off an imaginary list. Don’t live your life or set your goals based on 365-day increments.

Thus, I don’t think I’m going to have any stated goals for 2014. Certainly no resolutions.

I’m simply going to try to be the best that I can – always.