Resolutions gone astray…

Remember those New Year resolutions you made for yourself at the beginning of 2014?

Maybe it was to lose the 10lbs you put on over the holidays, or the 20 you’ve been carrying around like dead weight for the last 6 years. Perhaps it was the promise to exercise more regularly, or to reduce your alcohol intake, to slow down on your online shopping, or to rid yourself of needless clutter.

For some of us, resolving to correct an undesirable behavior/habit is easily done, but for many, weeks or months go by with no changes in behavior. Eventually you realize that the resolution for the year got pushed to the wayside and forgotten, and feelings of guilt and frustration follow. Why couldn’t we follow through? How could we ignore or forget this important personal goal? More importantly, why do we do this to ourselves?

Creating a personal goal and following through might not always manifest in the way you desire, but making headway into it can certainly offset any personal feelings of inadequacy or frustration if the path has been carefully laid out. If we don’t strategically plan our goals, it is easy to fail, and can set up a negative pattern of guilt and feelings of stagnation. So how do you fix this? Start small, and you won’t fall! Sure, it’s a corny rhyme, but it’s a catchy reminder of how to lay out your road to personal success.

Most people are their own worst enemy.

Solutions to success:

1. Positive premise: Create a goal about gain, not about loss. Example: “This year, I will learn to eat healthier and exercise more” Instead of “I will give up sugar and lose some weight.”
2. Have a long term goal, but with many short-term goals on the road ahead.
3. All goals must be measurable: create smaller, measurable, more achievable goals as stepping stones to the larger prize. That way you can track your progress and see how far you’ve come.
4. Utilize external resources, be it friends, family, therapies, or classes can help keep you motivated and on-track.
5. Acupuncture, of course! You knew that would come up eventually :-) Acupuncture can be an extremely useful external therapy tool when it comes to personal resolve. When your body is balanced, it is much easier to overcome mental hurdles and get more goals accomplished. Case in point: The US government uses acupuncture on a regular basis to help overcome addictive behaviors for people in need. That can mean a drug or alcohol habit, but it can also translate to food addiction, shopping addiction, smoking, etc. Patient testimonies from government programs (and, our office!) have shown that with consistent treatment, patients feel an added resolve when receiving acupuncture in conjunction with a progressive goal.
6. Don’t be too hard on yourself! We are only human, after all. If you fall off the wagon, all is not lost. Tell yourself “Today wasn’t my finest hour, but tomorrow I’ll do better.” Leave it behind you and jump back on that wagon!

So if you are feel like renewing your resolve with a little extra help, give this some thought. You might be pleasantly surprised at how much easier it can be to achieve your goals!