A New Year’s resolution is a promise. A promise we make to ourselves for the New Year. Regardless of what that resolution you commit to, the goal is to improve life in the coming year.
Resolutions can come in many forms. Some people make a promise to change a bad habit, such as to stop smoking, or eating healthier and losing those unwanted pounds. Others makes a promise to develop a positive habit like exercising more and remaining committed to that promise.
The tradition of New Year’s resolutions began in 153 B.C. It began in January because January is named after Janus, a mythical god of early Rome. Janus, according to legend, has two faces, one looking forward the other looking backward.
This allowed Janus to look back on the past and forward to the future. On December 31, the Romans Imagined Janus looking back into the past year, and forward into the new year. This was a symbolic time for Romans to make resolutions for the new year and be forgiven for failures and wrongdoings in the past year, with the commitment to do better in the new year.
The Romans would give gifts and make promises, believing Janus would see this and bless them in the year ahead. Thus the New Year’s resolution was born!
Should you Make a Resolution
Millions, tens of millions of people make resolutions, and resolutions are good things. The top 2 resolutions are Exercise more and Lose weight. These resolutions are made worldwide, because, like all resolutions, they are a promise to do better, to try, to be better. We see room for improvement in ourselves and we promise to work to achieve this betterment.
Resolutions are hard. They are hard because, like any desired change, it takes a lot of work, dedication, and commitment. Not that we don’t have these qualities. Diet Rite knows and believes in the desire and commitment of everyone who read our articles and visits our site.
They are hard because so many things happen in the course of a year. Hell, in the course of a month, a week, or even in a day so much can transpire that just yanks you right off your path. Once off your path of good intentions, it can take several attempts or adjustments to get back on it. And God helps you when the experts start talking. They have this ability to make it all sound so simple that you can feel like a failure before you even begin.. I’ve been there. “Oh you should do this etc, Nevermind you’re in the middle of a deadly pandemic and can’t go outside. Never mind you’ve just lost your job and now tha
The Difference is…
We write from our heart and we want you to know we understand. We don’t get paid to write these articles. We work and are worried if we will have a job tomorrow like tens of millions of us all.
But we strive! We strive because we have to! We strive because we want to! We strive to make ourselves, and perhaps through that small effort, make the world a little better too. That is why we make resolutions, They give us a goal to strive for, and we strive in the face of adversity!
A New Year A New Way of Seeing Things
We would, therefore, like to share some tips, insights that could make achieving your new year’s resolution a possibility. See we have realized that once you changed the way you look at a problem, you can see a solution that perhaps you didn’t see before.
Take dieting. When you change your thoughts or the way you look at “Dieting”, and you see dieting as a permanent change to your eating lifestyle, then you don’t fall off! You don’t develop the “all is lost” mentality that makes you give up! Rather, you see it as something you work on every opportunity you get.
That thought alone will allow you to keep working on your eating lifestyle for the entire year. That change of thought makes eating healthier easier and all the benefits of eating healthy, like losing weight, more energy, and all the benefits we talk about in every article are achievable.
Why A Promise?
A resolution is something we do at the beginning of the year. Possibly through habit, perhaps you really want to make this change. This is great, any time you motivate yourself to be better and to do better is awesome, but by March you may no longer be in the Resolution frame of mind. However, if change the thought from resolution to promise, then it is something you will work on throughout the year.
In order to achieve this promise, you will adjust when things happen because you will realize that if I can’t do everything each day, perhaps I can do one little thing that lets me know I can do this. I can stay after it one little thing at a time.
Also, resolutions are usually broad statements. “I’m gonna lose weight”, “I’m gonna exercise more” and with that “Diet Mentality,” you start aggressively, perhaps even too aggressive which makes it difficult to maintain over the course of a year.
A promise though can be a small thing. Instead of the broad “I’m gonna lose weight, think “I’m gonna eat healthier this year. If you eat healthier, better food choices you will begin to see the weight reduction you are seeking. Eating healthier does not mean carrots and celery every day. It does not mean starving yourself. It means making smarter, healthier food choices a little at a time.
Each time you do, You have kept your promise! Exercising more doesn’t have to mean spending 4 hours a day at the gym. Unless you’re a teenager or retired with grown children you don’t have tons of time. It can mean though walking 2 or 3 extra blocks a day.
Each time you do this you have kept your promise to yourself. The benefits will add up before you know it.
A Short Concluding tale
I would like to share an eating healthy exercise more story with you. You know how they say eating healthy is more expensive right? Well, There’s this diner I used to go and order an egg and cheese on a roll and cup of coffee.. $4.25.
I then changed my order to an egg sandwich on whole wheat no cheese and a cup of coffee
Healthier right? The bread is healthier no artery-clogging cheese, so my order is healthier right? $3.50.
so I discovered the egg sandwich was very heavy don’t know why but it was so I have now changed my order to whole-wheat toast and a cup of coffee. Even healthier because whatever grease they use to make the eggs is gone. No mayo, no ketchup went.
Even healthier right.. $2.00 So I have created a healthier meal/breakfast, lighter and healthier
and I knocked 50% off what I normally paid for breakfast.
Try going to the coffee cart in the morning and tell the guy. I’d like a cup of coffee and whole-wheat toast J Watch their reaction “But all I have are these intestine clogging bagels and world-famous diabetic danishes lol.
So we are in the pandemic and stuck inside…mostly. I work from home from time to time. Lunchtime comes, we’ve already been sitting forever and we go into the next room and sit again. I started walking and discovered I can walk a mile in a half hour. That means I can walk when the weather permits.
It’s cold out but it’s not like Minnesota Yikes! So I bundle up a Sweatshirt and jacket and I can walk for a mile and still be back in time and ready to begin work again and I have kept a promise to myself.
Am I losing a ton of weight? No! but here is a promise I made to myself. I promised myself (and this is a great winter strategy) I promised myself I would not gain any weight in the winter. So when the summer begins I can pick up with more activity and work more on losing weight.
I just wanted you to see what a promise to yourself is. And when people ask me “Have you made any New Year’s Resolutions?” I will simply answer. No, I will just keep the promises I made to myself.