When I started my New Year’s Resolutions on January 1, I tried to pick out things that were achievable but not way too easy. I spent the entire month of January basically focused on doing those six things. My wife and I even began a group for encouraging others to work on their goals together. It wasn’t a big group, but the people in it really helped me a lot. I was able to complete every task for 32 straight days.
As February rolled on, I felt like I had to give myself a little bit of a cushion. There were a couple things on the list that probably didn’t need to be done every single day, and as tennis season started inching closer I was coming to the realization that many of the items wouldn’t be able to be done every day anyway.
By the time the month of February ended, however, I had stopped doing virtually everything I had set out to do. The idea of giving myself a “cushion” lasted about two weeks before I had created an excuse for everything. The gains I had made in many areas began to fall off. I went into tennis season with disappointment that I hadn’t carried some good habits longer.
Tennis season began on March 9, and we practiced for four days before we got the ruling that we were done (at least for now). The insane schedule I was preparing for myself was suddenly a figment of my imagination. What was to be done? What would I do? It turns out, one of the best decisions I made during this time was to restart my resolutions nine days ago. Instead of letting myself be fearful of the possible outcomes, I decided to work on myself while I had this strange gift of extra time.
Anyway, here are my six resolutions, which vary in both length of time and difficulty level. If it seems like some are completely unrelated to each other, it’s because they are.
- Brush and floss. I think most people are pretty good about brushing, but flossing? I think that can be a struggle. If I don’t make a point of doing it, I tend to not. Bonus: When I had a dentist appointment earlier this year, it was super easy!
- Run 5K (3.1 miles) or bike 10K (6.2 miles) every day. This has now turned into “Run 5K” because our gym is closed and I don’t actually own a bike. Fun fact though-even though I don’t have a bike for myself, I did teach my daughter how to ride without training wheels this week!
- Four planks (one minute and ten seconds each). I may or may not have been jumped by my dog and my daughter doing planks a couple days ago. Now I do them in the basement, where the dog is not available for licking attacks.
- Write 500 words. Well, it looks like the cat is out of the bag now. If anyone wonders why my posts are always a certain length, there it is. Usually they are between 500 and 700 words.
- Read ten pages or more of a self-help book. I will be honest in saying that ten pages is pretty much the perfect length for me. It’s long enough to make it through a complete topic or most of a chapter, but short enough that I won’t give up or lose interest.
- Complete the day’s passage from the 100-day New Testament reader. There are many around (Google it and you will find plenty). It doesn’t really matter who came up with it or if you make your own, as long as you read a couple chapters.
I know a lot of people don’t have an hour anywhere in their day where they can complete six resolutions. I’m sorry if this comes off as inappropriate due to an illness or a tough time you are facing because of the coronavirus. I’m putting my resolutions out there personally because I want to encourage people to try and make the most of a really bad situation. In the worst of times, sometimes routine can make a huge difference. If you don’t like my resolutions, make up some others. It’s not even about what they are so much as that we work hard to get a little better even if (and especially if) things around us are going crazy.
Thank you for being a part of it all-at least one-sixth of it! Your encouragement is powerful and I can’t wait to share everything else, both what I have written and what is still yet to come.