In my moments of quiet reflection, I always ask myself the same few questions.
Am I improving? Are my choices and actions moving me closer to the person I want to be? Have I made progress over the past day/week/month/year?
These are often followed by questions of self-flagellation: Why did I say that? What was I thinking? Why did I make that decision?
“Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.”
– Jim Rohn
Why don’t most New Year’s resolutions succeed?
“I ruined Christmas!”
The tears burst from my nine-year-old’s eyes as she blamed herself for the ramifications of a global pandemic that has lasted for three years. All kids go crazy for Christmas, of course, but my daughter is certainly in the highest percentile of Santa fanatics, so having her holiday plans dashed was especially difficult.
“I thought about losing weight once, but I don’t like to lose.”
— Unknown
It was not a New Year’s resolution per se. As the ball dropped on the strangest and, in some ways, most difficult year most of us had ever experienced, I didn’t make a grand pronouncement to lose weight. I didn’t write it down or post a status update about it or scream it to everyone I encountered in January. Rather, it was more of a hazy, general goal.
It’s time to get healthy.
The weather on the east coast is very hot and unbearably humid. My daughters like to play in the water and chase lightning bugs. We are in the midst of the summer. The calendar is about to flip to August. It sometimes feels normal.
But it’s not a normal summer. We’re all still living under a cloud of uncertainty and fear as an invisible, silent genocidal killer continues to haunt us.
And I haven’t had a complete day off since March 8th.
The Passion of Christopher Pierznik 