I dissolve--NO! Resolve! I RESOLVE! (Revisited)

With every New Year, we make resolutions, or promises to ourselves, about what we are going to do and who we are going to be. If we tell others about our resolutions, we are making promises to them.

Last year around this time, I made a few resolutions that I posted on this site*.

1. Start the year off with less stress
2. Eat more healthfully 
3. Exercise more 
4. Learn at least one more survival skill (archery) 
5. Get more pedicures 
6. Set realistic goals

I have been successful to varying degrees.

Start the year off with less stress

From NeuralConnections.net

I think I made it about a week of being zen and in the zone, then things went a little nut-so. My dad had a bad reaction to anesthesia for a knee surgery. During the same period of time, my mom, who has Type 1 Diabetes, started having issues with her blood sugar. Normally my parents would be in the same abode making it easier to help one or both of them.

Not this time: Dad was in a VA hospital and Mom was at home.

I didn't freak out, but I also did not deal very well with the stress. I didn't sleep well and was constantly on edge. I was convinced that at any minute something horrible would happen. (This sounds way dramatic, but it's really not. The first Sunday Dad was in the hospital he got up and walked away. He was trying to go to his church from the hospital; a 14.3 mile walk. Oh, his surgery? Knee replacement. And he was wearing a johnnie.)

Eat more healthfully

"Baby Carrots" image from Fine Cooking

I'm going to claim a win on this one. Okay, yes, at this very moment I am standing in a Potbelly's. However, I got a cup of soup and ate half an original sized sandwich. An ideal brunch? No, however, it is a healthier choice. And that is what I have been successful with: over the passed year, I have consistently made better choices about what I eat and when.

This doesn't mean I stopped eating and drinking junk. It means I stopped consuming as much junk. Soda is almost entirely a thing of the past. That was always a big one for me: I would take either the kind with enough lab created sugar to kill a small dog or full of stuff that tricks the body into thinking it's just been pumped full of sugar. Both are bad news and I have (mostly) successfully avoided them.

Exercise more

I started off the year really well. Then...not so much. I exercised in bursts. Some of those bursts were fairly far apart. I did, overall, exercise more. That makes this a technical win. That's like a technical knock-out: sure, it goes on the books as a win, but it's not entirely satisfying.

Learn at least one more survival skill (archery)

I did not learn archery. However, I did take a psychology class on Edx.org and a survivalist course at an REI in my area. Both were interesting and informative and got me thinking.

Get more pedicures

This one really had nothing to do with surviving anything or bettering myself as a person. It was an attempt at pampering myself more. At taking care of myself. Symbolic, yo. Also, I wasn't actually thinking about how little I enjoy having my feet touched.

Anyway...this one falls into the Not a Win category. (I am not using the words fail or lose because I'm sensitive. Shut up! Not a Win is not the same as Losing.) My number of pedicures per annum did not increase. Nor did my ability to take time for myself. If anything, I may have gotten a little worse at this.

Set Realistic Goals

The Medium Alchester in Horsefly Check from Burberry

Oh, yes, I set realistic goals for myself. I even met some. Less than half of them. And here is the problem: setting goals is all well and good but they aren't worth anything if you don't strive to meet them. If I pay $100 dollars for a Louis Vuitton knock-off and a blind woman in a poorly lit room can tell it's a fake, all I've done is throw away $100. And for that matter, even if the only one who knows it's a fake is me, I've still thrown my money away because I know that I'm lying to people!

No, I haven't gotten off track. Realistic goals also need to be goals I care about. If I care about looking like I can afford a Louis or a Burberry, I will save my money until I can actually buy a Louis or a Burberry. (When it comes to such luxury items, overcoming my middle class sensibilities might fall into the Unrealistic Goals category. [But seriously, drool.])

My Take Away

Upon reviewing last year's resolutions, I see a problem. I want my resolutions to be high definition, but these are all low def. Only one sets an actual, measurable goal (#4). The rest all say things like,  "I'll do more of this. Oh, yeah, and less of that. A number of things? No. I am not going to give you a number that I could be tied to!" And then, imaginary me pops a Cheeto into her mouth while she watches a pilates DVD and drinks a Jack and ginger. (Real me prefers to watch MMA and drink very dirty vodka martinis.)

Within the week I shall return with actual, measurable goals for the 2015.

Follow me on Twitter: @Anypocalypse

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*I actually made these resolutions at the end of 2012.