The New Year is almost here! And you know what THAT means, don’t you? It’s time to think about our New Year’s resolutions!
Most of us make the same old resolutions year after year. Lose weight, exercise more, clean my room daily (teenagers especially), spend more time with family, quit smoking, be less stressed, get out of debt, etc. etc.
I suggest an entirely different attitude this year .Forget the old, tired resolutions! We don’t keep them anyway.
I choose to call this plan “The New Journey”.
First write your goals on paper. You know, the old fashioned way. There is something about writing them. It is a contract between you and your goals.
I know what you are thinking, “What do I write down? You already took all my old ideas”.
Try this resolution -- Commitment.
This year, you will do what you said you would do. You will commit and you will not quit.
You haven’t thought of that, have you? I hadn’t either! You say you want to lose weight? The first goal is not ‘to lose weight”. The first goal is to commit to whatever you decide to attempt.
You might commit to walking two miles every day. Or you might commit to reducing your sugar intake. Or how about another goal?. You might commit to believing the best of yourself, and not allowing negativity, or complaining, or gossip to leave your lips. You might commit to read your Bible daily, The options vary. Commitment is the power that drives the engine.
Your next step is to resurrect your dreams. Dig deep now.! You only need to come up with one. What have you given up and pushed down into the recesses of your mind? To start your own business? To travel more? To go back to school? To paint your house? Select one. Commit to do whatever you can to achieve it. This is a resolution.
Here are some additional tangible goals that might help us get started.
1. Focus outward this year. Plan to do one nice thing a day for someone else; whether its something small like giving a compliment, or donating blood, or sponsoring a child in need. In other words, make a resolution to make a difference. In exchange, it will make one happier and give a sense of achievement. Commit to it and it will become natural in due time.
2. Get out of your rut! I vote for that! There’s nothing worse than doing the same thing day after day, never varying from the same, stale routine . Next year vow to do one NEW, small thing each day or week. Wear something that you wouldn’t normally wear, order a different coffee maybe, cook something you never tried before. Wear your nice clothes instead of.saving them for some day in the great by and by, Use your good dishes, or wear your best perfume. Drive home a different way. Make a new friend. Smile at someone you don’t like! Eat your meals at the table with your family.
3. Attack your financial worries one at a time.
To help get your new year off to a successful start, try getting your finances in order by making a resolution to sort out just one area of financial worry. Perhaps you spend too much on gas or you waste money at the grocery store on things you don’t really need. Try to create ways to save gas money by maybe car pooling or riding your bike to work? Write a shopping list before you go to the grocery store. Eat at home. Carry your lunch to work. Eat simple, inexpensive meals during the week and enjoy more expensive meals only on the weekends? Brew your coffee at home for a fraction of the cost of a food mart coffee? Whatever you do to save, put your savings in a big glass jar so that your reward (saving money) will be visible and tangible.
And whatever you do, believe in yourself again. And commit. That’s the key.

“A Woman’s View” is Judi Tabler’s reflection of her experiences and events. She is a wife, mother, writer, teacher, grandmother, and even a great grandmother.