New Year's Resolutions

I haven't made any New Year's Resolutions in years. Is there really something "magical" about January 1st? All of the sudden just because the clock strikes midnight on December 31st I'm all of the sudden going to stop cursing, exercise regularly, eat healthy, watch less T.V., etc...? In the past, whenever I would make a resolution, it never failed at most I would make it a couple of weeks and I would fail so I would give up and just think, "Oh well, maybe next year!"

I've been working on making healthy lifestyle changes for several years. In the past I tended to focus on one main thing - either physical goals, emotional goals, or spiritual goals. Lately I have been trying to work on all of them because I have found that if I only focus on one then the other areas suffer. So, I've been working on balance and trying to focus on my overall health.

I've had my ups and downs but lately with some of my goals there have been more downs than ups. Physically I am in the worst shape I have been in years... I feel miserable - I get out of breath easily and I've had medical issues that I know would be resolved if I could get healthier. I am going to start using an online program to record what I eat and my exercise in order to help keep me on track. I deferred my registration for the marathon last year to this year and am hopeful that I can complete the Des Moines marathon in 2013. That is the only race I am planning on this year for sure. I have some ideas on how many miles I'd like to complete this year, but I know that pushing my body too much too soon after having not worked out regularly in a long time is not smart. So, I am just going to ease my way back into getting moving again.

Emotionally I am actually doing better than I have in a while. I am seeing a good counselor who is helping me make progress in the right direction. I still have lots of work to do and a lot of healing that needs to happen, but I am working in the right direction and that encourages me and gives me hope.

Spiritually I really need to work on my discipline and will be starting a reading plan to read the Bible in a year that my church is doing. I need to work on being more consistent in my prayer life as well.

These are all things I have been working on and will continue to work on. I decided this year to make ONE New Year's Resolution - DON'T GIVE UP!  Life is hard, life will get busy, I will likely continue to struggle with meeting the goals I believe God wants me to work on. However, just as God's mercy is new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23) so my renewal of my commitments and goals will be new every morning. I will press on and continue to strive to be the woman of God that He wants me to be!


Continuing my journey into 2013,

Sherri