I am wondering if making New Year’s resolutions is a thing of the past.
On Tuesday when I went out to ask people what resolutions they had made for the paper’s question of the week, it was like pulling teeth.
Most people said they don’t make them because they always break them.
One man said he’d decided to quit smoking, but holding up a package of freshly purchased cigarettes, shook his head and said he had broken that resolution already.
I told him the timing has to be right to quit smoking. I’ve seen that in my family and friends over the years.
A woman shrugged and said she always wants to make a resolution to lose weight, but it backfires.
“I’m hoping by not making a resolution, I might get fit,” she smiled.
I saw a great cartoon over the holidays featuring two dogs.
One dog asked the other what a New Year’s resolution was.
“It’s a to-do list for the first week of January,” was the reply.
It made me chuckle, as I contemplated whether to make any resolutions or not.
I thought hard over the Christmas break about things I would like to change in 2014 around stress and work and being more attentive to my children so they don’t have to repeat things they’ve already told me.
Part of balancing work and stress led me to return to jogging on Father’s Day.
It felt great, but within a few months I had to admit I needed to do some strengthening work.
During the month of December I attended four TRX classes on my lunch hour.
The TRX regime involves using two bands, hooked to the wall and a lot of strengthening exercises.
I liked it and tried to listen to my body as the instructor suggested.
Within a few days of the first class, however, I went from wondering if I was having an appendicitis attack to worrying my ulcerative colitis was acting up.
When I returned for the second class and felt the first twinge as I began the exercises, I realized, humbly, my tummy needed work.
Normally I approach September as my new year, but this time around, I don’t think I can afford to wait.
While the snow will come and go outside, the abdominal snowball nestled securely beneath my belly button won’t be going away any time soon.
Monica Lamb-Yorski is a reporter at the Williams Lake Tribune
