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Happy New Year

2012, the new year is here and for many it’s a time for those New Year’s Resolutions. A look at a thesaurus provides us with other words that give meaning to the word “Resolution” and they include;

determination, intentness, perseverance, commitment, tenacity, staying power, doggedness, dedication, boldness, courage

... which is perhaps why I have never had too much success with making them! But every one of those words above is a word that resonates with me, because they are words that suggest the ability to change and improve, and that should be what each one of us should aspire to. And they shouldn’t be words that we just associate with the start of a new year: they should be words that are part of our daily routine - whoever we are and wherever we are.

Whilst not being into grand resolutions, I am a firm believer in making lists, because in the act of making a list you imprint a desire on the brain in at least three ways:

• you mentally make a choice
• you write down the choice
• you see the choice in front of you.

My theory goes that you are now three times more likely to “action” that choice than, for example, grandly announcing at a New Year’s Eve party that you’re going to give up alcohol in the new year! So let’s look at some of the words above and see how we can make them work for us when we come to write our resolutions for 2012.

Boldness: as parents, we normally associate boldness with young people doing odd things like playing loud music, communicating in a series of grunts and wearing what appear to be grannies clothes, but in very cut down sizes - “He/She’s a bold one” being a common comment. And how often have you heard in a shopping centre a mother scold her child with the words “Don’t be so bold”! But the odd thing is that so many of our fantastic younger people conform to the fashion of the moment in their clothes, their tweets and their music: the older cynic would perhaps suggest that they have been sold a “pup”, but then, didn’t we do the same sort of things when we too were young?

One resolution I would offer to our young people is to carry on being bold and to dare to be different. Not in the standard way of rebelling against the older generations, that’s been done so many times and it didn’t really prove anything then; but rather dare to be different from their peers in the crowd. For instance, drugs, smoking and alcohol seem to be culturally cool but are a doorway to disaster - take schoolies week as a prime example. My challenge would be for some of those young people to sit down early in their final school year with some wise heads (and that doesn’t have to be your parents, but may just be your best mates or someone you respect) and make a list of the things you would really like to do to mark the end of one segment of your life and the beginning of the next one. I have no doubt that most would be able to come up with something more creative than getting blotto on Rotto! It takes courage to stand out from the crowd and not drink alcohol, and not to smoke or take drugs, but boldness and courage are two words that mean resolution, and to me signify a wonderful person.

At the other end of the time scale, three other words for resolution come to mind for 2012. “Getting old is not for Sissies” is a common saying, but a very true saying with many parts of the ageing body starting to not function as they once did: eyes, hearing, joints, skin and so on. And it’s sometimes easy to see why so many give into the feeling that life is hard so I’ll just sit down quietly and watch TV. In fact the era of old age is a time for determination, doggedness and perseverance. Although things can, and will go wrong, we are still the repository of so much learning and life experience and we should be passing some of that on to the younger generations, especially the little ones. The older generation need to keep fit and strong, not only for their own health and well-being, but also so that they can help the young Mums struggling with small families. An offer to sit and read, or to take the “littlies” to the park for half an hour will not only enrich everyone’s lives, it will give Mum a well earned break for herself so that she can recharge her batteries and be the best Mum she is able to be.
 
Most people who do make New Year’s Resolutions will no doubt be including health somewhere in their lists: to lose weight, to get fit, to stop smoking, to cut down the grog, to spend more time with family and all of these things can be achieved with the addition of another word for resolution - Commitment! Commitment means developing a habit, and habits take time to become “ingrained”, so my suggestion is to make the commitment “just for today”, and when you wake up tomorrow you make the same commitment - “just for today”, and so on for each and every day that follows. That’s how habits are made and that’s how lives are changed and that’s how dreams are fulfilled.

Happy New Year and let me know how you go!

The content of these articles is not tailored for any particular individual's circumstances. The author does not take into account your physical condition, medical history or any medication you may be taking. Any advice or information provided by the author cannot replace the advice of your health care professional. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent those of HBF unless clearly indicated.