Thursday, January 31, 2013

New Year's Resolutions

I'm pretty inconsistent with making New Year's resolutions from year to year. Some years I make them, some years I don't. It all depends on what's going on in my life when the new year rolls around. This year I brainstormed for a month, and now I'm ready to declare some resolutions. They are:

Lower my cholesterol naturally. Yep. I have high cholesterol. "Very high" according to my doctor. It's kind of embarrassing, actually. Oh, look at me! I'm unhealthy! So, gotta fix that. And I don't want to do it with medication. I'll be going back into the doc's office for a blood test in March.

Weigh less at the end of the year than I did at the beginning of the year. This is not "going on a diet" or "trying to lose weight," but making lifestyle changes that make me all-around healthier (which should result in a little weight loss). I don't want a "quick fix" because they never last. I don't want to start any eating habits or exercise habits that I won't keep up with.

Run a mile. I have never run a mile in my life! My body is not made for running. A mile is small for many people, but a mile is HUGE for me. I wanted to run a mile before my 27th birthday (for a birthday present to myself), and I went to the gym every morning for four months and did couch to 5K training on the treadmill. FOUR MONTHS!!! And the most I could run was 3/4 of a mile, and it hurt so much. I never made it to the mile. So maybe for my 30th birthday I will finally run a mile.

Get together with my high school friends. This one is already on the roll. We're getting together tomorrow night. CHECK MARK.

Have Christmas money all saved up by Halloween and most Christmas shopping done by Thanksgiving. I finally admitted last year that I hate Christmas shopping. Part of the reason I hate it is because there's not enough money. I have a mile-long list of people I'm supposed to buy gifts for, and I get really stressed out because there's not enough money to buy them something they would like. Then I get told I have to buy gifts for so and so and such and such and that I'm supposed to spend $20 per person, and all those people want are gift cards and UGH!!! I just want to give Christmas a swift kick in the behind! So this year, I'm getting as much shopping done as possible before it's acceptable to put my tree up so I can just sit back and enjoy Christmas for what it's supposed to be.

No new clothes or shoes in 2013. I totally ripped this resolution off of Mel. I have a few exceptions:

  • I can buy a swimming suit (because the one I own is five years old and will completely fall apart at the crotch any minute now)
  • I can buy underwear
  • Should I suddenly drop a significant amount of weight and become desperate for clothes that fit, this resolution is void (not likely to happen, but it's always good to be prepared)
No pop. Or soda. Or whatever you want to call it. I quit drinking pop last year, and I intend to keep up on it. Of course, there are a few exceptions, like if root beer floats are served at a party. But for the most part, my goal is to remain soda-free.

And there you have it: the unimpressive list of my New Year's resolutions. I have a few more I'm working on that I won't post here because they are either A) more embarrassing than having high cholesterol and not being able to run a mile or B) personal.

How are your resolutions going?


3 comments:

heidikins said...

I also get anxiety about Christmas presents/shopping. A few years ago I was broke-broke-broke and decided I would only be buying a present for my parents. No siblings. No friends. No neighbors. No nieces or nephews. Just one present for my Mom and one for my Dad.

Ya know what? Christmas came anyway and it was wonderful. Dude, it was the most relaxed Christmas ever. I didn't receive presents from the whole world either, and I was a-okay with that.

In the years since then when I've had some more funds, I've still kept my shopping to a minimum. My parents. My sweetheart. The end. It's been heavenly. J-Mo is of the opinion that EVERYONE needs presents, BIG, AWESOME presents. He gets a chunky bonus in December every year and has always used a bit percentage for Christmas presents....and then this year he did the math and realized all the other things that could be purchased with that kind of money. And no, your 18 month old niece probably didn't *need* pink cowboy boots that COST $50 DOLLARS HOLYCRAP!

We are also setting a budget for next year, will have that money saved by the fall and every present purchased by Dec. 1. I will not do the crazy Christmas thing ever again. It's not worth it.

(Sorry for hijacking your resolution, I just found I had a lot of thoughts and feelings on the subject.)

xox

Katie said...

So I always set a resolution that has something to do with my looks. You know, lose weight, cut my hair more often, buy different clothes that make me look more like a girl than a boy. You get the point. This year I decided on just 2 resolutions that would make my life better in multiple ways. 1- Get to the Temple 1 time a month. 2- Actually participate on Fast Sundays by fasting. January went great and I'm actually looking forward to February. I'm pretty happy with the resolutions I made :)

Amber said...

Resolutions...ha. I decided instead of making a huge list I could never live up to I would take it two weeks at a time and work on something I want to improve on. So far its been good. I've always been terrible about a consistant bedtime routine for my girls (like its 11:00 and maybe we should put on jammies, bad.) So we've been better. I've cut out a few things from my diet and next is to join one of my friends in this online group where they send you a different workout everyday thats suppose to take no longer than 20 minutes. So hopefully I can become a much better "me".