New Year Resolutions

I have never been one of those people that likes to make resolutions because resolutions are akin to rules and we all know rules are made to be broken.  I might try to persuade myself that resolutions are self-imposed, but beneath the pretty package it still smacks of rules to my rebel heart.  Please don't get the wrong idea about me--I am a law-abiding citizen for the most part.  Except for my lead foot.  I tend to think speed limits are more of a guideline, if you will.  And seatbelts.  I am of the opinion that if motorcyclists do not have to wear helmets, then I should not have to wear a seatbelt.  So yeah, I find resolutions, like some traffic laws, are a tad stifling on Life's Highway.

Besides my bucking the authority attitude, I also think making resolutions is setting oneself up for failure and since most resolutions begin on the first day of the year, it sets a depressing tone for the new year when you are unable or unwilling to stick to your resolution(s).  How many times have you said you were going on a diet and then  X amount of days later you binge?   Start an exercise program only to skip a day, a few days, a week or so and then lapse back into your former couch potato self?  Say you are going to lose weight but do not make the sacrifices necessary to achieve your weight loss goal?  So if you are overweight, out of shape and essentially not in the body you desire to be, why add unrealistic goals to your resume of gloom and doom?  Do you really think you will feel better when you add "I'm a failure" to the list of things you want to change about yourself?  Not me! My philosophy is to keep things simple.

When I set my diet goals, I set goals that are relatively easy to follow.  If I fall off the wagon and eat something that is not good for me, instead of beating myself up I savor each morsel of that forbidden fruit.  I also apply my own mathematic equations to counting calories.  You know how when you multiply any number with zero, the answer is always zero?  I figure if I drink a Diet Coke which has zero calories and multiply that times a donut, mathematically there should be no calories and thus said diet is still intact.

When I lament how I am getting a spare tire around my middle, I go to Golden Corral and marvel at how thin I am in comparison with a great many diners/grazers of this fine establishment.  Sure, I will do a few crunches and sit-ups but I can rationalize that I am middle-aged and a grandmother so I am not expected to look like a super model......heck, not even an underwear model for Wal-mart.  Great body image?  Hardly, but I am not so upset about my figure that I am willing to give up sweets in favor of celery sticks. So what is a gal to do?  Accept that gravity is not a friend to those of us over forty and appreciate the laugh lines when I chuckle at myself in the mirror.

This year why not resolve to be unresolved?  It might be the most stress-free year EVER.... or this time next year we might end up joining Jenny Craig and Fitness Plus for the group rate .