Attainable New Year’s Resolutions

We all know about New Year’s resolutions … about how we always make them and never seem to accomplish them.

Well, I’ve managed to accomplish my last two New Year’s resolutions. Of course, they were rather vague and not very specific. For that reason, however, they allowed some flexibility and managed to be not only reasonable but also attainable.

For many years, I actually quit making New Year’s resolutions because I always failed to lose weight or acquire large sums of money. Our of sheer desperation one year, I decided I really needed to take care of myself … instead of everyone else: family, clients, even strangers in line at the grocery store who had far fewer items to check out and were really in a hurry.

Why do so many of us actually believe other people are busier than we are, live more stressful lives, and face more challenges? Well, I got over that. We all have 24 hours in our days. Most of us have parents, siblings, children, co-workers, bosses, employees, friends, neighbors, strangers, etc. who bring joy to our lives and/or manage to seriously mess with them.

Two years ago, my New Year’s resolution was to take better care of myself–as in, every single day I thought of something I could do to take care of myself. I accomplished that goal by putting a sticky note on the bathroom mirror (Take care of yourself today!). I accomplished a lot more thinking about taking care of myself than actually doing it, but the point is I truly thought about my own well-being each and every day. And managed to take better care of myself in 2010 than in previous years.

I began 2011 with the goal: Be Selfish. This was the result of 2010’s goal being too vague. Being selfish is a lot more specific. Or so I thought. About a month into the year, I realized selfish was too harsh a word. (Of course, I should have looked it up in the dictionary before making my resolution.) According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, selfish means “concerned excessively or exclusively with oneself : seeking or concentrating on one’s own advantage, pleasure, or well-being without regard for others.” Since I’m a writer, I decided to take poetic license with the definition and, for my purposes, simply eliminated the “without regard for others.” It worked for me and I did a terrific job. Resolution accomplished.

So, there I was on December 31, 2011, and I still hadn’t come up with a New Year’s resolution. I admit it’s tough coming up with one that beats those of the last previous years. And, being the over-achiever I am, I really do prefer to keep beating past records. Instead, I decided to pitch my competitiveness (even with myself) and go a little deeper with my goal of taking care of myself.

So, here’s my New Year’s resolution for 2012: Do something for myself each and every day that improves my personal well-being.

Yes, it’s posted where I can read it every day–although not on my bathroom mirror. And I’m more than happy to share it with you. Feel free to take it for yourself.

If you have one, what’s YOUR New Year’s resolution? How did you arrive at it. If you don’t have one, why not?

Regardless, here’s wishing you good health, weight loss (if you want it), large sums of money (if you get them and don’t want them, feel free to donate to the Linda Fund), and much happiness in 2012.