I Resolve...

Do you make New Years resolutions? I know many people do and many people have given up because they never keep them anyway. I know my resolutions seem to be similar year after year: lose weight, eat healthier, read more, but the very process of making the resolutions is important. It's a little piece of you saying I want to be better, I want to improve myself, I'm not giving up and I will accept even the smallest victory as progress.

It's easier, they say, to incorporate one thing at a time and make it part of your daily routine. Trying to do too much at one time is a sure-fire way to not keep any of your resolutions. The last seven months, I've incorporated riding my exercise bike into my routine. It helps to have someone exercising along with you and some kind of goal - my exercising partner is in Boston, and yet we ride daily, and we have a goal on our virtual bike trip. We started on June 1st in Bar Harbor, Maine and have finished the year in Buffalo, New York, checking in every Friday with a spreadsheet that tracks our daily miles. The holidays have thrown things out of whack a bit, so it's time to get things back on track.

And the end of the year is a good time to do just that. As we look back at the old year, our accomplishments, our failures, our good times and bad, we can tweak ourselves just that little bit to get ourself back on track, to get ourselves on the road we want to be on, to get ourselves situated for the future, to set a plan in motion.

Maybe a resolution is just a part of a 12 month plan, part of what we need to do. Are you making a resolution this year? What are you going to work on in the new year? And where do you see yourself in one year's time?

Happy New Year to all, and a heart-felt thank you for letting me come into your lives just a tiny bit, for you have come into mine and I am better because of you.