By Karen Creasey
Approaching a new year this 2015 has been a reflective experience. I have been thinking long and hard about what it means to make a new year’s resolution. What it means to resolve to start something, change something, or finish something. I have always been someone who makes new year’s resolution on the first day of the New Year. And this year, I plan to do the same. But, instead of setting an independent goal and stressing over accomplishing it, I have decided to take a unique approach.
I recently read a book that directed the reader to set their life up as a story. The premise was that if you live life as a narrative, life will be more fulfilling. While I’m unsure that premise holds completely true, I found it useful as I approached my 2015 resolutions. Here is what I have decided to do. I share this with you so that you might join me in this “new” way to resolve.
Instead of looking into the New Year as a time to accomplish something that, in the past, has been unattainable, decide to set some goals for the fun of it, for the story of it, with the achievement results being the byproduct of the goal rather than the focus. For example, instead of setting a resolution to lose 20 lbs., only to hopelessly fall short; or to work out for an hour a day, every day, all year long, only to quit after fatigue sets in on the third day; or to stop eating sugar all together only to revert to sneaking it when others are not looking; try this.
Sign up for a local fitness event (a triathlon, a 5K walk/run or a sports tournament) taking place later in the year. Invite a couple of friends to do it with you and plan a party to celebrate completing the event. The focus becomes the story, the experience and the party. Weight loss, eating right, and exercise are the byproduct of getting prepared to participate in the event. The story becomes bigger than the goal. The story becomes the motivator.
I’m trying it in my life and I invite you to attempt it with me. Let’s do it together. Let’s resolve to bigger things in life; things that are fun and fulfilling, things that make good stories and encourage lasting results like friendships, memories and wellness.
For more ideas call Karen at the Palm Desert Aquatic Center 760-565-7467 or go online www.pdpool.com.
