NO Resolutions

Every January, I start my list of resolutions.  I would get very overwhelmed thinking about all of the things that I am unhappy with.  The list would go on and on.  I would beat myself up thinking about all of the things that NEED to change.  Thinking about all of the ways that I was not good enough!  I would look around at my house, my kids, my closets, my body, and think... "Wow Meg, you SUCK!"

Then, in an attempt to make myself feel better, I would resolve that I could change it all. It was a new start, a new year... the best time to change!  I would muster up enough willpower and inner strength that I felt like I could move mountains.  I would make a trip to the local super store to stock up on everything from ONLY healthy food, to cleaners and storage bins for organization.  I always put several new notebooks in my cart as well, because after all, a new start means a clean slate.  My clean slate notebook would quickly fill up with lists, food plans, current weights and measurements, goals, and then a journal entry about how this year would be different!!!!

By February those notebooks, that represented my "new organized healthy life," were covered with pages of scribbles from whichever child stole it and decided to color on top of it!  Then they were normally stuck in the bottom of my kitchen drawers, buried under the clutter that makes up most of my to-do lists!

So this year, 1/1/11 marks a year that I don't hate myself.  There are still hundreds of things that can be cleaned and organized.  I still wish my children were better behaved, well-mannered and a little less destructive.  I still have at least 100 pounds to lose. I still need to exercise much more often and with more intensity.  BUT I do not need to make any huge life-changing resolutions.  I do not need to make empty promises to myself and my family.

 One thing I have learned after years of disappointing February 1sts, is that will power and self control do not work!  Alone they are not enough.  Before we can declutter our lives and fix our bodies, we must declutter our minds and fix our spiritual health. It starts from the inside out.

I do not mean to discredit resolutions for anyone else...  If that's what it takes for you to make the changes you need to make in your own life, then keep on making them!!! But this year I am relieved that I do not need to make huge goals about changing EVERYTHING in my life. I need to make a promise to myself to take care of ME everyday.  To wake up and pray and make my DAILY resolutions to be the best I can. Every day is a new start.  I do not need a new year to make these changes, and that feels SO GOOD!