Another year has come and gone. 2009 will soon be in the past and 2010 is a fresh, new thought that is upon us. As such, I believe it is time for this blogger to come up with a list of resolutions for the year 2010. Now, if you believe the current Hollywood trend, this is an exercise in futility since in only two more years the world is going to end anyway. But for the sake of argument, let’s just assume the Mayan calendar was mistaken.
- The first and most important resolution, I will make no more resolutions! Resolutions are crap, plan and simple. If this change was important enough for a resolution, it was important enough to start today, not only on the first of the year. As many of us have realized, resolutions are just countdowns to failure. So, no more resolutions.
- As much as I may disagree with the political climate of our country right now, there are two things our Commander in Chief has said that I agree with. Now is a time for change, and Yes We Can! Each of us has change that we must face in the upcoming year and it’s about time that we had the courage to face this needed change with the fight and resolve needed to conquer it.
- One change that can have a huge affect on us is stopping the restaurants, take-out, and drive-thrus. Understand that the value meal is the enemy! How many healthy options can there really be on a menu that could not exist without grease, and a lot of it? How many of you ever have leftover's when you hit the drive-thru?
- That leads directly to this point, cook at home! I know all the excuses, I don’t have time, I have to get the kids to soccer (not sure why those words should ever be uttered anyway), I get home from work too late. I have used all of these excuses, except the soccer one. Here are the facts though. It costs less to cook a meal at home. It does not have to take three hours to do it. There are cook books and magazines that specialize in recipes that taste good, are healthy, use fewer than five ingredients, and take less than a half an hour to prepare. I know this for a fact because I have spent the last year putting together two 3-inch binders full of just these types of recipes. The added bonus to cooking at home is leftovers. After this surgery, I still cook many of the same meals as before. The difference is that after we are done, I am able to make a plate for me and Mary for the next day at work. Now, I don’t have to worry about making a lunch, I know it’s healthy, and I know it wasn’t served in a bag.
- Make a choice to move. No matter how much or how little, just begin to move. Start simple; take the stairs at work, not the elevator. Walk around the block. Wrestle with your kids. Just do something, because doing nothing is what got us where we are now.
- Lastly, ask for help. I know that one of the easiest things to do is keep all of this stuff inside. Suffer in silence and put on a happy face for everyone. That approach does not work. You may not believe it from this blog, but I am an extremely introverted person. I find reaching out to others very trying and stressful. But as I have begun to do so, I am finding strength in places I never had before. Find someone to talk to, to share your experience and struggles with. If you aren’t sure where to start, might I suggest starting with me? I am no professional and I certainly don’t have all the answers. But I do have a good ear and I am intimately familiar with the struggles many of you are going through. I do not work for the hospital, so I can say that whatever is shared with me will stay with me.
2010 can be a new and exciting year. Full of change and new experiences. Or it can simply be a repeat of the many years before. If you continue down the same road, if you make resolutions that end within a month or two of beginning, guess what the result will be at the end of 2010, same old you. It was once said that, “foolishness is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result”. This last year I have been blessed to experience many things I never thought I would again. Buying clothes from a “normal” store. Taking my children on rides and roller coasters. Running over a mile and not stopping. Exercising self-control at the Golden Corral. Losing 125lbs. There have been many great experiences for me. There have also been some tremendous stumbling blocks. I have screwed up about as much as you can in some ways. I have had the crap scared out of me at the hospital. But here I am still standing. And most importantly, fighting back and not giving up. Whatever you do in 2010, do NOT give up.