Promises... not problems.

Guess what? It is that time again! We are over the Turkeyfest, the gift unwrapping and the festival of lights, now on to planning the night of nights - New Year's!

Every year we take time to do a tally of sorts. We see the new year as a chance for a new us, or a new begining to something. We resolve to change.

But first we look over the grand list from last year. In one column goes what we wanted to accomplish - our list of resolutions - in another goes the checks as to if we have or have not accomplished those goals.

So how good was your resolve in 2008? For the first time ever mine was pretty good.

However, I need to state one thing right here and now. I hate using the term "resolution" because it makes me think that there is a problem that needs to be fixed.

I don't smoke, I barely drink (seriously had maybe 10 drinks all year!), and I do not diet. I am active, I am busy, I am not broken and do not need to be fixed. So with this I stopped doing resolutions, and started to make myself promises.
I have found that resolutions are easy to abandon, however a promise even if only to myself is something that I have to deliver on. You may think that a promise to yourself broken is a victimless crime, but honestly if you cannot keep a promise to yourself, then you need to think of yourself as a more important of a person than you may right now. :-)

1 year ago I made one singular promise: to loose the weight once and for all.
My goal was to lose ALL of the weight I needed to (65-70lbs), and through running, triathlon, and Weight Watchers I managed to drop 40 lbs pretty easily. Not too shabby! The kicker is that I changed my lifestyle and the weightloss followed.

While I do not consider this a completion of the goal (I have another 25-35lbs to go) I have managed to sustain real weight loss... I kept my promise to myself.

So looking towards 2009 I am making myself two promises.

I promise that I will keep on with my healthy lifestyle and will get to a sustainable and healthy weight range for me, with my BMI in normal range. (I kid you not - at a size 10 I am considered obese by my BMI!)

I promise that I will take up another activity for fun and stress relief, not sport. This is key - NOT for sport. It can still be something active, but not something that I would be competitive with.

I already have a few activities in mind; indoor rock climbing, pottery, or jewelry making. I will try them out and see what fits for me.

So there we have it. Two simple promises, but if I keep them they are so much more than something to check off a list. They compound each year and add to a lifestyle change that is greater than any singular resolution.

So looking forward to the new year - what are YOU doing? Do you have any resolutions, promises, or the like? Or are you the person who does not make them?

Do you want to get back into shape? Start running? Take up a craft like painting or pottery, or cut down on some activities and focus on home life?

Let me know what, if anything, is on tap for you in 2009!