Broken Resolutions at Our Feet by Stephanie Nickel
Did you make New Year’s resolutions? Have you broken them already?
Forgive me for saying this, but … SO WHAT?
Maybe you had plans to exercise regularly, eat healthy, and get more sleep in 2016, and for whatever reason, it just didn’t happen in January.
Again I say, “So what?”
Guess what you and I have right in front of us—Lord willing of course. We have 11 more shiny new months left in 2016.
My goal for January was to follow Kimberley’s Fit for Faith program. And I did so … some days. But that’s okay, February is just around the corner and I aim to do even better then.
It’s so easy to focus on what we didn’t accomplish and forget all the things we were able to do. Try taking some time and writing down all the good things you’ve been able to do this year already. (I don’t mean just in the area of fitness either. Include everything.) I’m sure each of us has lots to celebrate.
Just because you weren’t able to stick with all of your resolutions doesn’t mean you should scrap them. Take some time to re-examine them. Ask yourself, “Why did I include this item on the list?” If you don’t really have a good reason, scratch it off. It’s good to lighten the load we put on ourselves.
What about those items that are on your list for legitimate reasons? Maybe it’s time to create a reasonable timeline. As you may know, I decided to spread my fitness goals out over the year instead of trying to accomplish them all right out of the gate. It’s easier to develop healthy lifelong habits if we give ourselves the chance to do so slowly and steadily.
Instead of beating ourselves up when we stumble, let’s get into the habit of doing a happy dance—figuratively or literally—when we do something good for ourselves. When we choose fruit salad over a brownie. When we go for a walk after dinner instead of watching TV. When we get up early to exercise before work instead of rolling over and hitting the snooze button.
There are always voices that are going to try to convince us that we’re not enough. Not slim enough. Not strong enough. Not committed enough.
Let’s raise our voice and shout, “SO WHAT?”
We don’t have to measure up to someone else’s opinion of what enough is. Maybe the loudest voice is our own, that nagging in our head we can’t seem to shake.
It’s time to tell it to “zip it.”
There are countless good reasons to develop healthy habits, but delaying contentment, happiness, and a sense of worth until then is a bad idea. You have incredible worth right now, today even. You will not be more valuable when you lose those 10, 20, or 50 pounds. There’s no need to hang your head if you do choose that brownie once in a while. And some days you just need another 20 minutes of sleep.
But don’t give up. Increased fitness will improve virtually every area of your life.
Now let’s kick our broken resolutions out from underfoot and go into the next 11 months with new determination.
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Steph Beth Nickel is an author, a freelance editor and writer, a labour doula, and a former personal trainer. She’d love to connect with you on Facebook or Twitter, on her website or blog.