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Sticking to Your New Year Resolutions
A Lifelong Resolution
Many of us make new year's resolutions to change something in
our lives that we know is doing us and/or others harm, like
smoking, eating too much, or drinking too heavily. But often the
New Year comes and goes, and nothing has changed. Instead of
feeling like a failure, or making the same resolution every year,
make a lifelong resolution to change, that simply begins this year.
Making a long-term resolution requires a few slow steps, the first of
which is to commit.
Commit
In order to commit to a change you need to know why you are
doing it. Think about what you want to achieve, and why. If your
resolution is to quit smoking, why? You probably already know the
answers to this question, but it's important to spell them out to
yourself. I assure you that you will need to remind yourself of them
sometime down the road.
Thinking about what you want to do is the first step towards doing
it. (Just be careful not to get stuck at this step.) It allows you to
become a little more aware of yourself and your lifestyle. You will
start paying attention to what prompts your smoking, or your
overeating. This information is valuable to breaking your habit. If
you know that you always overeat when you get home from work,
that might be just the right time to plan your workouts. Give yourself
a week or two to mull over what this change might mean to your
life. Play devil's advocate with yourself, and play out all the
arguments against change in your mind. Defend your reasons to
change, these will become the cornerstones of all the work you
have ahead of you.
Planning and Pacing
Part of creating change is planning for it. The key to coming up
with a plan that works is to pay close attention to pacing and
convenience.
Set goals for yourself that progress at a realistic pace. It's easy to
get caught up in wanting it all to happen really quickly, but it will
take some time to feel the difference. If you want to lose 20
pounds, try to lose roughly one and a half pounds a week, rather
than five. This will help you avoid frustration, will be healthier, and
will help you keep the weight off. If you want to quit smoking and
cold turkey doesn't work for you, cut out 2 cigarettes a day for the
first week, and then four cigarettes a day in the second week, and
so on. Give yourself a chance to see the improvements. When you
feel like giving up, give yourself another month for your changes to
start having an impact on your life. And don't dismiss the tiny
differences, such as being less out of breath, these are indications
of something much larger.
Setting realistic goals is particularly important in adopting an
exercise regimen. A person's body takes time to gain
cardiovascular strength, muscle, and flexibility. Rushing this
process will lead to injury. Many people injure themselves just when
they are getting started. This is often because their cardiovascular
strength is the first element to improve and so they begin to push
themselves beyond the level that their muscles or joints can
endure. It is essential to allow your muscles and joints the time to
match your growing cardiovascular strength; otherwise you will be
stopped in your tracks by pulled muscles and sore knees.
Intersperse hard days with rest days so that your body has a
chance to heal, and you have a chance to push yourself without
getting hurt.
Planning and Convenience
It is equally as important to make a plan that is convenient to you,
and that doesn't demand of you that you make the decision to
commit again and again everyday. Don't make a plan that is bound
to fail. If your resolution is to drink less alcohol, make it convenient
for yourself by making sure you have something else in the house
to drink. If you want to workout more often, find a gym that is on the
your way home, and choose an exercise that doesn't require a lot
of equipment at first, like walking. This way you can be a little more
flexible, and less dependent on gym hours or the availability of
certain pieces of equipment.
Recommit
There will be a time or a period of time when you feel like giving
up, or you even slip a bit. Don't beat yourself up just get back on
track immediately. It is a long process to incorporate new habits
into your lifestyle, but these changes are lifelong, and so must be
the process of change. If you find that you can't make a change
alone, try to find some help. And make sure that the people who
are around you know that you are making this effort. Ask them for
their help by asking them not to offer you sweets at work, or
making sure they offer you something besides a beer to drink.
Revisit your original goals, and your original reasons for making a
resolution. If you haven't reached your goals, you might have set
them too high, lower them and try again. Don't wait for the next new
year to get started up again, reassess where you are with the
change, for instance how many cigarettes are you smoking
everyday, reassess your plan, see where it might not have been
the best plan, and recommit.
Good Luck and a Healthy Happy New Year.
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