January 1 Means Resolutions

It's that time of year again. Time to reevaluate yourself, your life, your goals, your dreams. It's time to set those dreaded New Year's resolutions. I've never been one to make resolutions. I set goals for myself all year long, rather than just at the beginning of the year. The reality is, most people break their resolution within weeks, if not days. Saying you're going to go to the gym 5 times a week is likely doomed for failure, as is losing 10 pounds in January. My feeling is that small goals set throughout the year are more likely to find success. Resolving to walk 30 minutes three times a week is more likely to be successful than saying that you're going to go to the gym everyday.

I was never much of a reader until about 10 years ago, when I decided I wanted to get back into reading. Rather than set a goal of reading a book every month, I set a simple goal of reading for 30 minutes each day. That was easy, and having great success, I upped my number of minutes from 30-45 minutes. I still read almost every day, and attribute it to not initially setting up a goal that was unreasonable.

I haven't set any goals for this year. There are many things I could resolve to do, but I dont' want to set goals so high that I cannot succeed.

Ron has resolved to eat right and exercise is 2012. He has to. Anyone with diabetes knows the rammifications of poor diet and a sedentary lifestyle, so his goals are big. He is off today to join Pure Fitness, and plans to work out there several times a week. He has already changed his eating habits and gotten his diabetes back under control. He has good reason to stick to his resolutions.

I went to the orthopaedist today, and have finally made a decision to have knee surgery for the second time. I have tried for four years to determine the cause of my pain, and today the Dr. proved to me that my leg pain is referred pain from my knee joints. I had an injection, and within minutes I had no pain in my leg. This means that when the pain in the knee was stopped, the pain in my leg was also stopped. I will have the miniscus repaired and the arthritis cleaned up in a few months. My goal after that will be to get back in physical shape and be pain free.

Go ahead and make your New Year's resolutions, but don't forget we can also set goals for ourselves throughout the year. Small goals are more likely to be successful. It's great to think big, but when it comes to goals, smaller may be better.