Waisting Time

Today is Groundhog Day, forever immortalized in the 1993 movie as the day of “do overs.”  In the movie, Bill Murray’s character gets to relive that one day over and over again.  Initially he takes advantage of the situation, but eventually he begins to reexamine his life and priorities.  And the movie ends happily ever after.

Two years ago today, I asked readers what, if anything, they’d change if they could go back to the past and do things differently.  Last year I asked readers what they’d change on their healthy lifestyle journey if they had could have a “do over.”

But this year, no looking back.

Sure, I wish I’d returned to yoga sooner.  Yes, I realize now I should have stopped my elliptical workout when I felt the first twinge in my calf.  And I’d listen to my inner voice and put that bucket of biscotti back on the store shelf!  Not to mention that there are countless days of overeating that I’d like to roll back and relive, willpower in tact only now, thanks to hindsight.  But I’ve either learned from my mistakes or I haven’t.

So, rather than imagine how I could change the past, I’m going to try to change the future!

Who’s with me!?

This year, I’m encouraging us all to look forward.  Regardless if Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow or not, the reality is that we have six more weeks of winter.  (Or summer, for those of you Down Under.)  And while they may seemingly drag by as we are living them, if you’re like me, six weeks from now you’ll look back and wonder at how fast time flew!  (What happened to January!?)

So, today I propose that you and I consider what we can change going forward, not looking back.  For the next six weeks.  One thing.  Or more, if you want:)  It can be related to healthy living or not.  It can be something you add or something you stop or something you simply change.  Add veggies to your lunch.  Pack your lunch for work.  Work out more often or longer or harder.  Try zumba.  Try running.  Try new recipes.  Write in a gratitude journal.  Journal what you eat.  Stop eating refined sugar.  Stop cursing.  Stop saying “I can’t.”  Blog more (or less) often.  Spend less (or more) time on Twitter.  Read more (or less) blogs.  Read more books.  Find balance in your life.  Improve your balance.  Balance your budget.  Budget your time better.  Add timed intervals to your cardio.  Start lifting weights.  Lift heavier weights.  Give up weighing yourself.  Give up chocolate.  Give up regrets about the past and apply what you’ve learned!

You choose.  Six weeks.  Commit here or commit on your blog or commit privately to yourself.  Whatever.  Wherever.  However.

Let’s change our past while it’s still our present.  And rewrite our future!

Ready?  Set.  Go!

Photo credit: [Vineyard Cafe]

This is my third “New Year” as a blogger.  So, this is the third time I’ll share with you my philosophy about New Year’s resolutions.

I don’t like them.  I don’t like making them and so I rarely do.  I don’t like the societal pressure that comes with this time-honored tradition.  I don’t like that when I have given in and participated in the past, I have never, ever stuck with my resolutions for very long.

It seems that in my many years as a yo-yo dieter, when January 1 rolls along, I’ve usually got some extra rolls of my own.  That I again commit to getting rid of, once and for all.  Same old, same old.  There I sit, having turned the page on my started a new calendar, on the back side of a long season of holiday (over)eating, filled with a sense of renewal at a new start for a new year.  Yada, yada, yada.  So, as you might have guessed, like much of the general populace, I have time and time again resolved to lose weight.  To diet to end all diets.  Or, as in recent years, as I have evolved more than I resolved, to “adopt a healthy lifestyle.”  Permanently.

Cue maniacal laughing.

The truth is, much as I sit here and rebel and resolve not to resolve anything, in the back of my mind, buried somewhere with the little voice that cries out for bagels and bread, is the thought that a resolution can be a good thing.  And that I should give in to that, not the cravings that are all too often sharing brain space.

But, oh, I don’t ever keep those darn resolutions when I make them!  So maybe my resolution this year is that simple:  keep a resolution!  But of course I’d have to make one first.

I see the attraction.  New year, new start.  And I very much admire those who do make resolutions.  (And I’ve seen some great ones in the blogworld recently.  Quite impressive actually.)  Hey, I’m all for us each finding what works.  And finding motivation wherever we can.  Setting goals – great.  Making changes – woo hoo.  But not so much for me.  The change and motivation part I’m fine with.  But the whole “it’s the first of the year so I will resolve…” part.  Eh – not so much.  Maybe it’s my inner rebel.  Maybe it’s laziness.  Maybe it’s my pragmatic nature.

Honestly, I do have some things I want to do.  Changes I want to make.  If shouting them from the rooftops my blog on January 1 2 would make them a self-fulfilling prophecy, I’d be screaming them to you right now.  But I know that commitment for me comes from somewhere else.  Not sure exactly where that is, ’cause I’m still looking.  I would love to say that my blog has provided me with the accountability and motivation to do all I set my mind to do (be it January 1 or any other time of the year).  But as fun as it is, I just can’t attribute magical powers to blogging.  Or… to resolutions either.

So, in conclusion, just in case you were wondering where I was going with all this blather, I do not “resolve.”  But, I am resolute!  Which, according to more than one online dictionary, makes me determined and unwavering.  And we all know we should believe everything we read online!

Happy New Year to you all!

Photo credit [Marty Coleman]