New year, new resolution

I found myself complaining today about how annoying going to the gym in January is. I have always been a gym go-er, even if it is not as much as I should be going, I still tend go frequently. So when the New Year's Resolution crowd packs the gym (and the parking lot with their vehicles), I have a bad habit of rolling my eyes.

I stopped in my tracks when I realized today that I do that.

Let me back up a bit.

I am part of a change initiative at work, and one of my biggest pet peeves is when people have no desire to participate because "many change initiatives have been tried already." I always want to say, "So because we have failed, we should never try again to get better?" I have NEVER understood this mentality. I always want to be trying to better myself. Life would just be plain boring if everything stayed exactly the same.

So when I realized that the New Year's resolution crowd are really just trying to better themselves, I changed my train of thought.

I always ask people if they make a New Year's resolution because I love getting a peak into what is most important to someone. I simply hate when people say New Year's resolutions are stupid because they never last and that we should always be doing the things we are saying we will do. To those people I say, even if a person goes to the gym one more time, if someone eats one more salad, or if someone says one more nice thing to a stranger, we are all better people for it.

So I want to tell everyone just please don't stop trying. Look at it for the times you actually did what you said you were going to do, and not how many times you failed. In this world filled with horrible tragedies that we have little control over, we should start with ourselves to try and make it a better place for ourselves and for our children.

I have promised myself that this year I will make sure the people that are special to me feel special on their special days (send treats and cards in the mail for people's birthdays and anniversaries), continue an active and healthy lifestyle (going to the gym 4 times a week and eating meatless Mondays), try to not sweat the small stuff (those times when I feel upset and I know I shouldn't be), and to write at least one blog post a week (seriously, at least one a week).

I usually don't have too many comments, but I would really love to know what some of your New Year's resolutions are. I hope you share them with me!

Happy New Year Everyone! May it be filled with health, prosperity and joy. :)