by Ashley Murphy

The New Year is officially here and with that comes reflection of the past and plans for the future. Many of those plans involve making New Year resolutions. And I'm sure many of you already know that most of those resolutions won't be kept, unless, of course, you set a practical goal and actually make a whole-hearted effort to get it accomplished.

I can honestly say that I have never kept a resolution that I have made in years past. Of course, most of my resolutions have been to lose weight and, quite frankly, I have never had the motivation to diet or work out. I love food too much and I love sleeping even more.

I think that it's safe to say I'm not the only one that feels the same way about this particular subject.

My idea of working out is taking a day-long shopping trip and trekking through the mall, all the while, carrying a heavy purse and loaded down bags. In my opinion, it actually does give you and your arms a very generous work out. Lifting bags, setting them down, picking up items. setting them down and repeating for the next couple of hours. All the walking will work out your legs and the constant bending over will help your abs. Want to give your legs an extra boost? Try all of this while wearing high heels. It's really quite exhausting. And painful. Which in past experiences with what exercise I have managed to accomplish, both have the same result.

I see every logic in my claims above. The only problem? I'm not made of money, so this whole shopping "exercise" routine doesn't come around for me very often. I'm not a go to the gym kind of girl. I would much rather save the money from the gym membership for shopping. It all works out. I get to spend money on multiple items (rather than paying a monthly membership fee for something that I would use half as much as whatever items I happen to buy). And I burn calories, leading to, well, possible weight loss. If not weight loss, then maybe I have a pretty good chance of at least not gaining anymore. Maybe? Either way, it seems like a fair trade to me.

Other popular resolutions worldwide include: to quit smoking, to stop drinking, to save money, pay off debts and spend more time with family, friends and loved ones. All of these resolutions take work and will by no means be handed to you. But that's the purpose of these New Year resolutions; to make you work hard to achieve a goal of change for the better.

It seems to me, what causes people to fail at keeping their resolutions, is the fact that they expect to stop, or start, overnight. Weight loss, trying to stop smoking or drinking, or trying to make money and pay off debt are definitely no easy tasks. If I could save money over night, I'd be on a yacht in the Grand Caymans or living in a beach house in Hawaii by now! They really need to make that easier to come by. My opinion at least.

Of course, I'm sure I just contradicted myself with that one. I shop to lose weight (at least we'll use that as the excuse) yet, I want to save money. Unfortunately, I can't promise to stop shopping or spending hard-earned money on "useless" (so my mom calls it) pieces of clothing. I wear them, well most of them, and they become very useful.

It's virtually impossible for me to swear off shopping, but I haven't reached that "Shopaholics Anonymous" point yet, so my family should be happy for that.

For now, I'll just sit quietly and push myself to save (I laugh as I type this)  that extra money and lose that extra weight. And this year I should definitely stick to the resolution of trying to spend more time with my family and friends, something that really needs to be done. I say that it would be easier, but when your life is as hectic as mine, this simple little task isn't so simple anymore. There are so many people to see and not enough hours in the day nor days in the week.

So, my goal for the new year is to actually make this time available. And, who knows, maybe if I don't actually make a resolution to lose weight this year, it'll miraculously come naturally. Here's hoping anyway...

Happy New Year!!

"May all your troubles last as long as your New Year's Resolutions."
-Joey Adams


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