Resolution Shmez-olution.

Yes, I'm aware of how cliche it is to blog about New Year Resolutions. Does that stop me from giving my 2 cents? Nah.

I'm pretty positive that over the span of my lifetime I've never made a real resolution on January 1. I know me. I won't stick with it. I don't have a whole lot of self control when it comes to promising myself things, i.e. going to the gym at 5 am every day of the week and eating only organically grown food. It just ain't gonna happen people. As my husband would say - "Baby, I'm just a realist".

This year, however, I'm using the New Year as an excuse to push myself ahead and drop these last few baby weight pounds, among a few other things. I am doing it mostly because I am a tight wad and don't want to buy more clothes this spring. I just want to get myself to a point where I can wear the four piles of capris and jeans on the top shelf of my closet. I swear to God they have dust on them. Considering I've had 3 babies in the span of 5 years... I guess it's no surprise?

So anyway, enough about me - getting back to resolutions in general.... I heard a statistic the other day that half of Americans make a New Year's Resolution, and of that half, only HALF actually stick to it for 2 weeks. 2 WEEKS! Seriously people? Two weeks is all you have to give? No one is expecting you to resolve to find world peace and cure starving nations. We don't expect much more than perhaps a promise to cut down on chocolate consumption or get outdoors a little more for some sunshine.

Instead of taking it slowly, people go hardcore signing up for year long gym memberships, clearing out and wasting hundreds of dollars worth of junk from their pantry and making ultimatums like vowing to find the perfect mate, get married, get that promotion, etc. or else. I guess I just don't get it. Why does it take a start of another year for you to resolve to do something when you should have been doing it or working on it all along? Yeah, yeah. I know. It's not that easy. Even as I typed it I knew it wasn't exactly the best observation I'd ever made. Still, I think if you are going to go the distance of making a resolution and spend cold hard cash on it (or large chunks of your time), it's gotta be worth something to stick to it for at least a month. Right? Not only that, but why make yourself the same damn promise over and over again each year knowing that it's extremely likely you'll be having deja-vu in 364 more days? As Nike says: "Just DO IT!" although I would like to add "For crying out loud!" or perhaps something a bit more explicit at the end of it. I don't know why, it just sounds more motivating.

I'm going the cheap-o route this year (surprise, surprise) and making the following resolutions... all of which I think are equally, if not more, important than pulling out my checkbook at Gold's.

Yell less, laugh more. Stress less, blog more. Nag less, appreciate husband more. Enjoy the moment instead of worrying about the next. Keep more of an open mind instead of judging. Clean out the bad, pile on the good. Annnnd... if all those go well, take off my last 15 pounds. If it doesn't involve some kind of weight issue, it's not considered a real resolution I think.

If you've made a resolution this year - good for you. If you haven't - good for you. I don't think it really matters. It might be January 1, but in reality it's just another day of another week of another month of another year of your life that you should be making an effort to be your best - to yourself and to others. At the risk of sounding cliche - again - isn't that what it's all about anyway?