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Two cocktails in hand and standing beside a plate full of pigs-in-the-blanket, it dawns on you that you have yet to make your New Year's resolution. You brainstorm for thirty seconds, picture the noble new you, and then boldly assert your resolution to the nearest passerby. One month later, still smoking cigarettes and three pounds heavier, you sigh in disappointment, "another wasted New Year's resolution."

Last New Year, I promised, like hundreds of thousands of other Americans, to lose ten pounds. By May, I gained five. In October, however, I was sick of looking at myself and seeing fat. I became motivated, formulated a sustainable diet and exercise plan, and lost the weight. My New Year's resolution had nothing to do with my motivation to finally lose the weight. Unless we are ready to change, we will not change.
Throughout the years, I've heard them all: "I will not swear;" "I will give up chocolate (red meat, carbohydrates, substitute your poison); "I will exercise four times a week;" "I will go to church on Sundays." You get the picture. Very few of the noble promise-makers keep their promises.
So, if you, cocktail and pig-in-the-blanket in hand, decide to make a resolution, make it feasible. Or make it ridiculous and funny. Unless you really mean that you are going to quit smoking cigarettes first thing tomorrow morning, don't bother saying it. Instead, have some fun with the resolution fanatics. Bob Smith, all three hundred pounds of him in the corner pouring more Egg Nog in his mug and devouring some brownies, just declared he would lose fifty pounds by March. Samantha Harris, sipping her glass of wine and flirting with her best friend's husband, swears she'll give up alcohol first thing tomorrow. Have a laugh. We all know these things are not going to happen. Be bold. Stand on top of the nearest chair and shout out your anti-New Year's resolution: "I vow to stop jumping naked off my roof and streaking across the neighborhood." Liberate yourself from the wasted years of broken promises and enjoy the New Year!

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