I resolve to...

I must start by making it clear that I am not big on New Year's Resolutions. I find it humorous that people think they can change their lifestyle simply by making it a resolution. I don't know anyone who has ever said, "I quit (insert vice here) on New Year's and I hasn't been a problem since". I do think it is important to stay in tune with yourself, to note your areas for improvement and work continually towards those things. What can it hurt right? Even if it is all for not, at least we'll know the areas we should be focusing on to make our lives and those who love us lives better.

1. Stop Cyber Stalking: I am guilty of it and I am not ashamed to admit it! I cyber stalk. I look up people on the Internet, I search for people on Facebook, I even Google people unnecessarily. I have a need to know how people's lives are going, I compare their accomplishments to mine and I silently weigh who is "winning". I am a shameless coveter. I covet other people's lives and undoubtedly romanticize their reality. I sometimes have to remind myself that nothing I see online, no pictures, no relationship status is a true barometer of happiness. I can't tell how happy someone's life is by their profile on Facebook. What is more important is living my life and finding happiness in my reality.

2. Walk Away From the Sugar and No one Gets Hurt: I have a long standing love affair with sugar, and though it has dramatically decreased over the years it still exists. When I was younger I would eat ice cream for breakfast and a Snickers for lunch. I once became a vegetarian because I thought the only other food group was candy and nothing seemed greater than eating sugar for 3 "square" meals a day. I would eat bags of candy I would visit Cold Stone twice a day. I was a sugar binger and I did it with reckless abandon and no fear of judgement. The biggest tole that candy has on me is not weight gain but terrible fatigue. I have to imagine that my fatigue is attributed at least somewhat to my mass consumption of sugar as a child and my bouts with sugar that I still have today. I am a huge believer in balance and I think that with a healthy balance of sugar in my life I will reap a lot of rewards. I am however worried about how Candy Corn will fare with their huge loss in their profit margin.

3. Patience is a Virtue I Hear: I have no patience. When I make my mind up that I want something and if it is within my power I will get it...if it isn't within my power I will pout. I don't know where I missed out on learning patience but I did. I am pretty sure there are lots of pearls of wisdom in this task. I think learning patience will mean not making purchases of items that I end up re-selling on Ebay a few months later, not eating as much candy, not wasting today just to get to tomorrow and not feeling so rushed to get through every task and feeling so restless all the time.

4. Take A Hike: I need to walk Jack and Charlie more. I have bouts where I walk them every day and feel so good about it and then it seems to fall away. It doesn't make much sense either because it makes me so happy to see them happy and walks make them both so very happy. Jack and Charlie deserve to take walks, to sniff all there is to sniff around the neighborhood and to show their cute fuzzy faces to the neighbors.

5. Get My Groove Back: Moving, a new job any sort of big change breaks up your groove and I have had many big changes this year. My workouts have gone from 5 days a week to 1... if I am lucky. I use to read about 30 books a year and now I am down to 0 in the past3 months. I need to get back into my groove and begin working out like I use to and pick up a good book to read.

6. Grow: I want to always be learning and growing in some way. Whether it be by taking an art class, volunteering or reading I want to be sure that I am always challenging myself and becoming better.

7. Show More Love: I am lucky to have great friends, a wonderful family and someone I love very much in my life. Somedays I think I am great at showing love and other days I know I could do better. I want everyone in my life to never doubt how much I love them, how proud I am of them and how much I value their place in my life.

I think I could list a couple more (not sure if that is a good thing) but I will stop at 7. 7 is a lucky number and 10 is too many to remember and be able to focus on. Happy New Year everyone hope it is a great year for us all!