New
Year’s Resolutions
I’ll need to hurry if I’m
to keep the resolutions I made last year!
Research credits the Babylonians as the folks who started it
all. The fact that it spread throughout the world indicates it may have merit
in either plaguing or inspiring people. Americans follow the practice in large
numbers and statistics indicate three of the most popular are: losing weight,
spending more time with family, and getting physically fit. Making resolutions
to improve oneself is a worthy goal and I can attest to it. I’ve tried it
several times.
Take the one about losing weight, for example. I’ve tried
losing weight every now and again over my eighty-eight years. I have a diamond
lifetime membership pin from Weight Watchers to prove it. And I could be their
poster woman because I have watched my weight—I’ve watched it go and I’ve
watched it come back. I’ve lost enough weight so that if it could be
accumulated and reconstructed into another human, I would have a full-sized
twin or even enough for a triplet. It’s an obvious fact. No matter whatever diet
I tried, the weight I lost came back and found me. So much for that resolution
for me.
Spending more time with my family is a challenging one too.
My husband is either scrolling on his iPad, watching sports, or dozing in
between. He talks more to Alexa than to me. What about more time with our three
daughters? They are all busy with their jobs or various hobbies. And since our
grand girls are all grown up now, I must compete for their attention via text,
Instagram, or Tik Tok. They relegate responding to me after their boyfriends,
college mates, and their hundreds of other followers. Sometimes they send me a
quick emoji heart to say they love me. And when the family does manage to get
together, everyone is busy checking their devices to stay connected with the
digital world. So, check off trying to spend more time with my family; it’s a
deflating resolution.
Finally, as I look at the fitness resolution, I laugh so
hard I might achieve a bit of toning from internal jogging. At my age resolving
to get fit would be like signing up to climb Mt. Everest or enrolling in an
Ironman event. Millions of fat cells lay claim to much of my body and scream at
the thought. Besides, gravity has taken over, pulling everything downward. Body
parts that used to be in their original place sag in despair or have migrated
to other places, making it impossible to fit them back in place. However, my
husband says I can still take pride in my hour-glass figure, because all
the sand has shifted to the bottom.
But the fitness resolution could have potential value if I
applied it in a convoluted way by firming up my character. This would mean
ridding myself of harmful, repercussive exercises that I tend to do— like
jumping to conclusions, stretching the truth, pushing the envelope, shooting
off my mouth, and running with the crowd. A de-tox resolution for my mind and
attitude might serve me better than a sculptured, toned body and could be
beneficial for all my relationships, including family.
What to do? I’ve decided to ditch
the personal assessment and resolution path based on an entire year, but I will
attempt to do my best each day as it comes. According to God’s providence, the
present is what He gives. So, rather than lumping a full year of aspirations
into one basket and trying to fulfill it, I plan to “carpe diem,” so the day
won’t seize me instead.