Scaled-down resolutions are easier
By Staff
Leada Gore, Editor
I used to have a traditional New Year's Eve resolution. Each year, I would vow to quit smoking.
The funny thing is, I don't smoke. I made this resolution because I knew it was one I could keep. The others – traditional ones like lose weight, clean out my closet, end world hunger – were simply too hard to keep.
I've heard an expert say that New Year's resolutions fail simply because we set our goals too high. It's impractical to think someone who regularly downs a bag of Oreos for dinner is suddenly going to switch to raw carrots just because it's Jan. 1.
Big resolutions are intimidating and studies show most people don't keep them even until the second month of the year. Attainable resolutions, the experts say, are small ones.
So, this year I will follow this advice and make small resolutions. Maybe, just maybe, if they are small enough I will be able to keep them.
For example, I would like to learn how to use my cell phone. My stepson Derek received a cell phone for Christmas and within one hour, he knew how to text message, take photos and send emails via his phone. I have not mastered saving people's phone numbers in my phone or checking my messages, much less sending one.
I think this is a reasonable goal.
I would also like to find all the missing socks in our house. This is actually a big job but it's important, so I'm willing to step out on a limb for this one. Our washing machine or dryer – I haven't determined which one is the guilty culprit yet – is eating our socks. The result is we have lots of loners in our sock drawers. I'm starting to think some of these loners may have a match in the same drawer. If not, it's time for them to land in the trash.
While I am at the cleaning, I will also throw out all "temporary" food storage containers that have become warped, discolored or simply do not match any lids anywhere in our house. I think the lids have gone to the same place as the socks but I can't be sure.
Along these same lines, I would like to clean out my car, match up stray compact discs with their cases and toss out all makeup bought in a moment of weakness, such as the lavender eyeshadow the magazine said would look great on someone of my coloring.
It didn't.
These are pretty small goals and seem attainable. Come Feb. 1, I plan to have these things done. And, just in case I end up like most of America and forget my resolutions around Jan. 15, I always have the quit smoking thing to fall back on.
At least it is a sure bet.
