To Resolve or Not To Resolve?

Do you make resolutions for the new year?

I’ve never been big on this practice and I think I’ve very rarely (if ever) made any New Year’s resolutions. I think it’s because I set and achieve goals for myself – large and small – all year ’round anyway. But perhaps there’s something to it all.

In a quick Google search, I found several resources outlining resolution suggestions, along with lists of the top resolutions made in 2017 and the top projected resolutions of 2018. I found many to be fairly predictable, but here are some of the most common ones, along with my thoughts and recommendations*:

Dieting / Exercise / Weight Loss

I have recently thought more about dabbling (see what I did there?) in a home cooking service such as Blue Apron or HelloFresh. This may be something we will incorporate 1-2 times a week. They’ve each been recommended to us by friends and both services regularly run introductory offers. It may be worth a shot in the new year.

When it comes to exercise, I am someone who prefers to workout at home. The public should not be subjected to my sweating/straining ugly workout face! So, I enjoy Winsor Pilates and Yoga, along with any sort of dance routine mixed in for aerobic activity.

You can now access many of the Pilates workouts On Demand through their website. For a speedy trim-down, I recommend the Advanced Body Slimming, which is a 20-minute, full body workout. You should already be familiar with the Pilates method for this one.

As for Yoga, I am a huge fan of anything Rodney Yee. My absolute favorite is Power Yoga for Total Body. Rodney’s voice soothes me, yet all the while he is kicking my @$$! Isn’t that exactly what you want from a yoga session? I do.

This past year, I have forced myself to do some more outdoor running too. If this is something you want to try, I recommend using the Guided Runs in the Nike+ Run Club app. They take you from your very first run, building your strength and stamina, all the way to more advanced running workouts. Bonus: You can listen to your own music while the trainer guides you. The app is available for both iOS and Android.

Spend Less / Save More / Pay-Down Debt

In order to achieve this resolution, I think one of the biggest keys to success is to budget. That may sound simple, but many people don’t truly budget; they more or less wing it from month-to-month.

I recommend Mint.com for all your budgeting needs. Mint is made by Intuit, the makers of TurboTax and Quickbooks. If you use TurboTax, you can even connect to your Mint data and port some of it over at tax time. The app is super useful, bringing together all of your online financial accounts in one place and allowing you to set your budget and maintain it easily throughout the year. Mint will also present offers for ways you can save additional money based on your spending habits, it provides your updated credit scores regularly, and you can even pay your bills through the site, all for free.

Improve Overall Health: Eat Healthier / Drink More Water / Improve Sleep

There are a million and one ways and recommendations about how to eat healthier. My only advice is to do everything in moderation. Complete elimination of something has never worked  for me in the long-term. Besides, a doctor once said to me:

“Life without chocolate is not worth living.”

True talk. Unfortunately/fortunately, I also find the same is true of breads, pastas, and cheeses. Don’t judge.

To get my daily recommended water intake, I am a fan of the Nalgene Narrow Mouth Water Bottle. It’s just classic and keeps me on track each day.

For better sleep, make sure that your device screens are set to go into a night mode to reduce the blue light that throws you off your sleep cycle. To help reset your circadian rhythm, you can try a melatonin supplement regimen for a couple weeks. Combine that with a nice cup of Sleepytime Extra tea about 30 minutes before bed and BAM! Does the trick every time.

Learn Something New

I’m learning something new right now: How to blog. Of them all, this will probably be my resolution if I end up making one. I would like to continue blogging, to build the readership, and to add value however I can to the lives of those who dabble along.

Make New Friends / Be A Better Friend

See my last post, Life-Long Friendships. I think the best reminder for us all to be better friends to one another is to listen more, talk less. If everyone follows this, the world would fall silent, I suppose, but you get the point. Especially in this phase of social strife we seem to be in, there’s nothing wrong with listening and truly hearing one another a bit more.

Read More

As I mentioned in the last blog post (see above link), I do have an active book club with some of my closest friends. We have very different reading tastes, so our selection rotation brings a lot of material to each of us that we might otherwise miss.

Additionally, there is a new Podcast in the works that will also force me to read a bit more. Stay tuned for more exciting details about this project.

Lastly, I have several friends who are published authors and I enjoy supporting their work. Currently, I am reading Sink or Swim: Life After Crash Landing In the Hudson by Karin Rooney with Jessie Santala. It’s a very quick read and at nearly the halfway point in just one sitting, I am enjoying the story so far. What an incredible miracle that whole event was, don’t you think?

Those are my thoughts on these popular resolutions. It just leaves the biggest question of them all: To resolve or not to resolve on January 1, 2018? Will you make any resolutions? What will they be? Drop your thoughts in the comment section below.

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*These are just my personal thoughts about what has worked for me. I am not a doctor, lawyer, physical trainer or therapist, accountant, or tax specialist. My recommendations are not intended to prevent, diagnose, or cure any disease. 😀