Resolutions

I'm not usually one for making New Year's Resolutions. I am very aware of the arbitrariness of the way we delineate time, so I don't put a lot of stock in "significant" dates. Additionally, I think resolutions aren't really what are important to making life changes. To me a resolution is a statement of a goal, such as "to lose weight". A resolution is only the beginning of making a change to your life. It's a nice summary, but you can't just will yourself to lose weight. You have to follow that up with a detailed action plan, such as going to the gym three times a week and/or modifying your diet in a specific way.

Personally, I practice a philosophy of constant self improvement, and to do that I use the "today is the first day of the rest of your life" approach. In other words, I make constant action plans and put them into effect immediately, rather than waiting for a significant date or time to begin.

I actually put the items I'm currently considering my "New Year's Resolutions" into action in December. I went to the doctor at the beginning of the month, and found out that my health was not as good as it could be. Since I had pretty much gone off my exercise routine, and was slowly slipping in my diet, it wasn't really a surprise, but it was enough of a shock to scare me back into an exercise and diet plan.

So, my resolutions for 2013:

1. Regular exercise. Let's say 4 days a week minimum with the real goal being 6 days a week. My usual favorites are running, Pilates and belly dance.
2. Better diet. Because of my personal health issues I keep a low carb/low glycemic index diet. As I mentioned, I've been slipping a bit, enjoying things like crackers and cheese and soda at lunch. My current plan is to try to keep my carb intake to under 150 each day.
3. Finish the Knitter's Almanac project. I'm working on July at the moment, and am optimistic that the second half of the book can be completed by the end of 2013.
4. Transparency. I'm of the opinion that no one needs to know the details of my every workout or every meal, but I also know that openly committing to goals and telling others about them and your progress is a good way to achieve them. One very good suggestion I saw a few years ago suggested treating the resolution process the way businesses treat their business goals: resolutions could be made and reviewed for success at the beginning of each quarter. While I don't think we should run our lives like a business, I do like the idea of reviewing how things are going from time to time, and committing to a quarterly update to honestly assess my progress seems reasonable.

There are other changes I'm considering starting this week, and I'm sure there will be new things coming up throughout the year, but I'd like these four things to be the ones I hold myself accountable for at the end of the year.

Happy New Year; may this year be the best year yet.