Fat Cats and New Years Resolutions

Source: via Roberta, aka Pinkpackrat on Pinterest

I don't do New Years Resolutions anymore-- too damned depressing.  But I do do what I call New Years reflections. I look back briefly on the year just past and then think about, and write down,  two or three goals for the coming year.  I keep a diary-- have for years-- and always write down my New Years reflections in my diary. The writing down part is key-- at least for me, not least because it forms a record and a concrete reminder of where you have been and where you are going.

This year, after performing my annual reflective exercise, I looked back over more than a decade's worth of diary entries to see if there was a pattern in my New Years ruminations and there was.  I noticed two important things-- to wit:

•  The first big surprise was that most of the goals I have set for myself over the years, I have achieved-- more than I thought before going back over my diaries. I really do worry less, spend more time with family and friends, procrastinate less, keep my house cleaner and my finances more organized and a whole bunch of other things too boring to mention here.

• On virtually every goal list, every year, no matter what my weight or the state of my health, I included as a goal " losing weight, and getting more exercise" which is a goal I never seem to achieve-- at least not to my satisfaction.

So, now, just in time for my annual New Years review, I read that being a little overweight might not be a bad thing.  It seems that a major study, involving more than 3 million people, has found that being moderately overweight ( I believe I definitely qualify for inclusion here) not only is not bad, but might actually statistically lower your chances of premature death.  Hooray.  Of course, the bad news is that the same study found that being significantly obese  increased chances of premature death in a big way-- but then we already knew that, didn't we?

MY takeaway from this is to pat myself on the back for having managed to achieve so many of my life goals over the past decade and to give myself a break in terms of diet and exercise.  Time to stop being so critical of myself.  It is, after all, not how long you live, but how that counts.  So Happy 2013 everybody and pass the popcorn.  It's going to be an interesting show, for sure.