Chris Herrington, Contributing Writer
Resolutions are a waste of time.
Well, if you are looking for New Year’s Resolution advice, forget it. I don’t have time for false starts and dead ends. We all know that by February 15th the gyms will empty out and all of the chocolate will be off the shelves. Dieting is for those who are bound to gain it all back, and most gym memberships will not be used, and we all know it. Anything we do that is seen as a temporary fix is just a Band-Aid on an open wound, and that is not doing anything but serving the symptom.
Real change is about changing direction. Diets don’t work because it is something we do to suffer through for a short period of time. Real change, like quitting smoking or stopping drinking, is something that is seen as permanent. Diets are only short term. The Bible has a tasty morsel to say about short term fixes: Proverbs 26:11, “As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.” Once we get convinced of something, it is really hard to let it go. As one of my friends said about doing things and really meaning it, “You have to be ruthless with yourself.”
I’m not going on a diet. I’m not joining a gym. I’m not joining a club. I’m not going to a fat farm. I am, however, changing my life. Now, the resolution idea is okay for those who only faintly dream of doing something that will deal with the surface of things. “I will clean out the garage,” for example. Yes, and it will get cleaned and then it will stack right back up again. That is a set up. I don’t want the same old feeling of being out of control, or being over-weight, or needing to re-do what I have had to re-do over and over for life. I want to get down to having dealt with it.
Many people have resolved to work on their relationships, and may end up getting a divorce when it is all said and done. But they forget that in all the relationships they have ever had, the common factor is that they were one side of the equation. We have to take responsibility for who we are and get down to the truth of the matter. You don’t turn into a blubber butt over night; it happens bite after bite year after year of sitting on the couch watching those have-to-watch programs. Any really meaningful change that is going to be long lasting is going to require us to make fundamental and long lasting changes in our routines.
I am not ready to retire from life. I have retired from my job, but the work of life is not over. I did not labor away for 33 years just so I can be put out to pasture! I’m not even 60! And 60 is the new 40. The thing is that in our culture we have learned that one person does not do it by him or herself. Well, to tell you the truth, it depends on what that “it” is. I can’t build a bridge by myself, but I can organize a party to build one, like my young friend, Forest.
I can’t put the whole world on line, but I can help a few people learn to work on the Internet, like my friend, Brandon.
I can’t recondition the entire forest, but I can watch over it and go to meetings to educate others about wilderness health, like my friend, Larry.
I can’t tell the news media how to better serve people, but I can develop an outlet for news that matters to the people who read it, like my friend, Keith.
At whatever age, with whatever abilities, we all have something to share, and while we are sharing it, whatever it is, we are doing something that displaces those things we used to do that were unhealthy, destructive, unimaginative, or costly. These changes are small and yet have a big impact.
We can park further away when we go to the store, and if we did this every time we shop or go to work, at 35 calories per event, at 25 events per week, that’s 45,500 calories. That is the same as 13 pounds a year.
If we visited the sick or needy instead of watching reruns, we would burn 100 calories per event and that would save 1.5 pounds.
If we opened ourselves to any new idea, like a video game that required motion, dancing, biking, or walking, we could burn 300 calories per hour, and at one time per day every day, we would burn 109,500 calories, or 31 pounds per year.
We could start working on our food intake with simple things. Stop using ingredients that you know are bad for you. You hate the guilt, so stop loading up with junk. Screw the resolutions; just stop poisoning yourself! Fried food, salt, butter, lard, white bread, fast food, candy, extra gravy, soft drinks, all that junk we use to comfort us about all the comfort food we have been eating, right?
But it does not have to be about food. TV is not an aphrodisiac, and that’s for sure. You got together because of the chemistry and now all you’ve got is science experiments in the refrigerator, right? Put some passion back in your relationship by not allowing the TV to keep the intimacy at bay. Go and do some things together. Sure, you’re tired! No joke. You are exhausted from not talking about what is on your mind and in your heart, right?
And cigarettes are not helping the budget. Or drinking at the bar. Or the vices like candy and sodas. All told, the average person spends about $10 a day on vices like drinks and comfort food, and that money in an investment could end up being worth over $100,000 in 20 years. The difference between home ownership and living in an apartment is about $4,000 cash on a first time home. All you need is excellent credit. Let’s work on that!
So, let’s recap: get off your butt, work on your own life, take no prisoners, and stop giving yourself more junk than you can deal with. Hmmmmmm, and oh yeah, stop making resolutions. Resolutions are for wimps. Make changes instead, for life.
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