Momster

Got big plans for New Year’s Eve? I know I do. I’m staying in with my husband and renting a movie from Amazon Instant Video. We are not hosting a gaggle of tween girls for a marathon of chic flicks. Five teenage boys are not moving the furniture, taking over our Xbox Kinect, and leaving dirty dishes all over the house.

How did I manage this, you ask?

I very sweetly invited both kids to spend the evening with us watching the ball drop in Times Square and eating popcorn. Both kids quickly declined and began scrambling to make other plans. “You are evil,” my husband whispered happily as we watched a flurry of texting followed by requests for rides to friends’ houses. So the evening’s activities are settled. But that means I have to turn my attention to my New Year’s resolutions.

But most resolutions fail! Or at least that’s what I’ve been told over and over again this month from bloggers, press releases, and news reports. And if I look at my past resolutions, it would be easy to come to that same depressing conclusion. Get fit and lose weight are on my list every year. They are on my list this year, too. If I had accomplished them already, they wouldn’t be, right?

But I was reading the Compact Guide to Creating the Fitness Habit at the blog Zen Habits last night and Leo Babauta’s take there on creating habits you enjoy – rather than making resolutions – got me thinking. I could decide that making this same resolution every year means I have failed to accomplish it. But that isn’t quite accurate. The quest is the point of this particular resolution. In the pursuit of this goal — over the years — I have tried, Yoga, Pilates, rollerblading, Zumba, kayaking, running, walking, swimming, fruit smoothies, dozens of soups and salads, fasting, snacking on nuts, lifting weights, boxing, personal trainers, and much more. I enjoy many of those activities and foods. I met people I now call friends trying the sports. I have worked many of the foods into my diet. And the ones I didn’t enjoy, I now know to avoid. If I had accomplished this goal the first time, I would have missed out on all of that. So I am – happily this time – making the same resolution again.

One habit I plan to try to create this year, is to work a small chunk of exercise right into the middle of my life-chaos when I get too busy to take a long walk or hit the gym.  YouTube recently launched a program called YouTube Next Trainer that showcases up and coming personal trainers to help boost their careers. The result is perfect for this habit because the featured workouts are short so it’s easy to sneak one in on a lunch break, after breakfast, or while dinner is in the oven. I can open a laptop, turn on a tablet, or just use my phone to dial up a personal trainer anytime. Here is a New Year’s workout from Bex Life, one of YouTube’s trainer picks. It is less than five minutes but really gets your heart pumping – and includes a little yoga.

Happy New Years! And have fun with those resolutions.

Related Articles

No related photos.