The year 2012 is already almost a week old! Happy week-old New Year! So, with a nod to Sarah Palin, “How’s that hopey-changey stuff working out for ya’?” Your New Year’s resolutions, I mean? I hope you’re on top of them, instead of the other way around—or at least that you’re making a great start. By July, statistics show, less than half of us will even be still headed down the resolution path. Hmmm. We have such “good intentions.”
Most popular resolutions
By the way, see how your 2012 resolutions compared with a national report on “the rest of us” who want to:
- Lose Weight
- Getting Organized
- Spend Less, Save More
- Enjoy Life to the Fullest
- Staying Fit and Healthy
- Learn Something Exciting
- Quit Smoking
- Help Others in Their Dreams
- Fall in Love
- Spend More Time with Family
At USA.gov, “government made easy,” these (good) resolutions made the list:
- Drink Less Alcohol
- Eat Healthy Food
- Get a Better Education
- Get a Better Job
- Get Fit
- Lose Weight
- Manage Debt
- Manage Stress
- Quit Smoking
- Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle
- Save Money
- Take a Trip
- Volunteer to Help Others
Boomers lookin’ for love
According to OurTime.com, the largest online dating site for singles over 50 (that’s us!), 60 percent of us made finding love our number one New Year’s resolve. That website’s survey found a third of us want to date more and a third of us want more sex—so even though some of us may be dating plenty, we still want—more sex.
We want, want, want, but do we get, get, get? And if not, why not? In a recent blog for Psychology Today, Jenna Baddeley suggests that resolutions deny us immediate pleasures and that a smarter way to approach them is by “breaking the goals down into clear, concrete, and manageable steps and rewarding yourself for good progress.”
Don’t think of resolutions as “chores,” but counterbalance them all…with a resolution that inspires you, that you just want to do, Baddeley writes. “At least as much as denying yourself pleasures, doing things that make life joyous and meaningful will promote your health and wellbeing in the long term—and in the short term, too.”
Here’s to you in 2012! Thanks for being here with me on Mind Your Body.