Day 20

As I sit here posting my accountability for today's workout, which by the way was: Week 2, Day 3 X3 Yoga done. Phew! I had to get that out. Anyway, I sit here and watch the Today Show and all the segments about the new year, one in particular just caught my attention. The idea that having resolutions is pipe dream for most.

We set our resolutions before midnight on the 31st, then after recovering from our holiday experience we set out with the best intentions to follow through. 365 days is a long time and most usually throw in the towel after 14 days or so. Some study done in 2012 (sorry I can't source the study) stated that around 45% of people fail by the end of 2 weeks after the new year and 88% fail before the end of the year. That means that only 12% actually follow through with their resolutions to the end of the year. Why is that? Are the resolutions too tough? Are we just too lazy or full of apathy that we can't do it? I don't know what every person's reasons are for not staying committed on their own resolutions. I only know why I don't follow through with things including resolutions.

The reason I started down this path was the Today Show segment about keeping resolutions. The guest said something he has people doing including himself and his family is choose a word. Instead of trying to remember all these many things you want to change within yourself, just choose a word that best describes what you need to do for you. It takes some personal insight and probably some time to really sit down and think about what you really want to change about yourself. Examples of words were: Focus, Pray, Believe and Present(ie: being in the present not a gift). The idea is that you pick a word that best describes what you really need to do and just focus on that word. Now I am sure you can expand this to multiple words if you're great at doing resolutions. One word is good for me because it affects so many things.

Change. That will be my one word for the year. I don't necessarily mean change in occupation or residence, but that is a form of change. I mean more of a change internally. Changing your attitude, your outlook, the way you treat yourself and others for a start. Change is a word that we throw around but to affect REAL change, you have to commit to it. If you want to change the way you are perceived by others, you have to change the way you treat them. Old saying time, "You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar". I feel that for my personal growth this year, I will have to change.

I have started my change by eating better and exercising. I am reinforcing my change by posting about it daily. I have no idea who if anyone reads it. I don't do it for others, but rather for me. It is my  personal accountability to myself. I also post for accountability within a group of people that are looking for my support as I am for theirs. We all need accountability on some level for all our changes that we are trying to make. I suggest you find a way to keep yourself accountable and remember if you lie about it, you are only lying to yourself and you will only let yourself down in the end.

I think the line from Bruce Almighty at the end of the movie sums it up well. "Be the miracle!" No matter what, YOU will have the most affect on how your resolutions will end up this year. Whether you pick a word or have a list, it's up to you to, "Be the change you want to become." You want to be positive, then be positive. You want to be healthy, then be healthy. You want to stop smoking, then be a nonsmoker.

Today is a new day, so be the change you want to become.