Let’s Just Say “No” To…

I don’t make New Year’s resolutions.

Period.

I don’t make New Year’s resolutions because they’re a Set-Up-to-Fail.

And setting myself up to fail is no way to start a new year.

For example, there’s the most popular resolution of all:

And there’s a world of “experts” out there, telling us how to do this in 2021, like this one:

And this one:

And this one, in case you want to bring your dog along for the torture:

I find these articles especially loathsome when they include images like these:

Standing on a scale with an apple in one hand and candy in the other? I say, “Skip the scale, give the apple to the dog, and go for the candy!”

And the other image – two totally buff bodies, one holding a scale which clearly neither ever has, nor ever will, use.

I know from experience that a New Year’s Day resolution to lose weight will last until about 10am or the first football game – whichever comes first – and out come the chips and dips and snacks and whatever else is in the fridge and…

Yes?

But losing weight isn’t our only Set-Up-to-Fail resolution. In addition to weight loss, the “experts” also offer lots of other resolutions we can make – and fail to keep:

Gosh – only “55+” ways to fail?

Here are just a few:

Make your bed every morning. This is a silly suggestion, since I’m going to get back into bed and pull the covers over my head at my first opportunity.

Give yourself more compliments. This I can do: “I took a three-hour nap today. Way to go!”

Take more trips with no destination in mind. We’re already doing that – the entire year of 2020 has felt like a trip with no destination in mind.

Here’s another one with 55 (what’s with all the number 55 stuff?) resolutions we can fail at:

And here’s a sampling:

Make your bed every morning. What’s with all the making my bed stuff?

Drink more water. I will. I will add one more ice cube to every alcoholic beverage I drink. Starting with breakfast.

Travel somewhere with no map. We’re already doing that – for the entire year of 2020 we’ve been traveling somewhere with no map.

I say: Forget about the weight-loss-list makers and the 55-resolutions-list makers and go for the one New Year’s resolution I did make years ago and have adhered to faithfully: