Be resolved in 2017

Resolutions are promises you make to yourself and usually centre around the start of a new year.

But, raise your hand if you didn’t keep the resolution you promised to yourself on Jan. 1, 2016?

Yeah, nor did I. But that’s because I never made any – and yet I’m a proponent of making resolutions.

For the last couple of years, on my birthday I compile a list of short-term goals – call them bucket list items or resolutions – that I complete before my next birthday. The number of items correlates to how old I am.

Items are as specific as “go to that museum I’ve always wanted to go to” or vague, such as “go on a long hike.”

I may have only completed 60 per cent of my list, but the process of trying to complete those items made me open to new adventures.

I am never doomed to fail as long as I check one item off that list.

Have goals, no matter how big (like “go to the Galapagos” – done!) or small (such as “go camping” – check!).

I’ve said in the past that by putting it down on paper, it is a constant reminder of your passions.

Maybe this year, be resolved to throw vague promises out the window and tackle goals that will make you happy.

– Olivia

VS.

Here we go againl

New Year’s resolutions inevitably set you up for failure. We’ve all heard the friend (or been the friend) who boasts about how their resolution is getting fit, eating healthy and losing weight.

On numerous polls from 2015 those were among the top 10 most common New Year’s resolutions.

But those are just words. The follow through is where the real test lies.

January at the gym is a real-life nightmare. The “resolutioners” are there with their Christmas-gifted Fitbits and workout gear, gung-ho for a year of transformation.

This is the time of year that regular gym-goers loathe. But where are the resolutioners for the other 11 months?

Just last week, 355 days following Jan. 1, 2016, there were three – that’s right three – people in my weekly fitness class. It seems many of the lofty 2015 resolutions didn’t have the longevity to make it through a full calendar year.

So gear up, fitness fanatics, the influx will come in January like clockwork, but at least we all know it won’t last long.

Resolutioners, why not make an attainable goal that you can live up to year after year, rather than falling for the cliché, over-sold, never-gonna-happen New Year’s resolution?

Break from the mould, do your own thing, dare to be different.

– Jaime