New Year's Goals

Now with Christmas over, we are all looking forward to the New Year. With that New Year comes the dreaded Resolutions. I am not sure what age I started my own New Year’s Resolutions or what age I stopped but about 10 years ago I did start writing down plans for the year but not as Resolutions, but as goals. This may sound like a class on semantics but bear with me on this.

A resolution is a firm decision to do or not to do something. Or my favorite definition: a formal expression of opinion or intention made, usually after voting, by a formal organization, a legislature, a club, or other group. Wow, a resolution really is something stiff and determined. It feels like it is an all-or-none phenomenon which is what it becomes for so many of us. So once I failed at that diet attempt or new exercise routine it was easy to just go back to the way things were before. I couldn’t do it the first time, so why keep doing it?

A goal is the object of a person’s ambition or effort; an aim or desired result. Or in sporting terms: a pair of posts linked by a crossbar and often with a net attached behind it, forming a space into or over which the ball has to be sent in order to score. I like to think of my goals as just that – a space I am aiming for. Since my husband is a soccer fanatic I will use soccer as my analogy. If a soccer player runs up and kicks the ball at the goal and it goes over the goal, to the left, or right at the goal but is blocked by the goalkeeper, that player does not get upset and run off the field. He and his team go right back at the game and try again. I may aim for the goal and miss the first, the fifth, and even the fifteenth attempt but if I make it on the 16th attempt, I got the goal. So I may miss the mark on my goals from time to time but I am always trying to improve myself and learn from my previous attempts so I can succeed.

This seems more realistic than a Resolution. I know it sounds like a silly semantic but those words have meaning to them. I also set up my goals in a way in that I have some that no matter what I know I will do them, some that will be a challenge to do but I should be able to complete, and others that I probably won’t complete but would like to someday.

If you are having difficulties determining your goals for the year, check out my blog from January of this year (http://www.healthyhedgehog.com/news/2017/1/20/keeping-that-new-years-resolution).

A goal that will be done: complete 2 half marathons this year. This goal not only has specific dates set with it but it keeps me moving. To run a half marathon I must train. This training keeps me in shape and helps maintain a healthy lifestyle with a goal each year. I found out years ago that if I stop exercising my eating habits slack too. So when I keep moving, the eating improves too. This goal wraps up so many of my healthy lifestyle habits in one.

A goal that will be a challenge: run/walk/hike 700 miles. Last year I read about a 1,000 mile run challenge and thought that would be great. I put a calendar in my workout space and documented my runs and include when I went on hikes with my husband too since those were strenuous. I found that this year I will be a little over 600 miles. So I was a little off but now I have a baseline. If I can add 100 miles each year, it won’t take long to hit 1,000 miles in a year.

Then there is that goal that I have set for myself every year for the past 5 years that I just cannot wrap my head around completing: learn how to play the guitar. My parents bought me a guitar when I was around 10 years old and I have never learned. My husband has even offered to pay for lessons for me but I have refused. I would love to someday play along with him but I have a mental block to this. If this is the only goal I do not do this coming year, I am fine with it. If I finally accomplish it, I will have to come up with another goal to sit on the list for years. I feel leaving a goal unfinished gives me room to improve and learn for the upcoming year so I have not been upset with myself that I did not run 1,000 miles or learn to play the guitar.

This is a great time to come up with goals. I like to reevaluate my goals in July too (that midyear review). Then you can adjust them or add more if you have already accomplished what you set out to do. Just remember that no matter how many times you aim for that goal and miss, you will sooner or later get it right in.