Anti-New Years Resolution Resolution

This post shall be my "refusal to make a New Year's Resolution because they all fucking suck" declaration. Let's go over some statistics.

The Top Ten New Year's Resolutions

1. Lose weight
2. Getting Organized
3. Spend less, save more
4. Enjoying life to the fullest
5. Staying fit and healthy
6. Learn something exciting
7. Quit smoking
8. Help others
9. Fall in Love
10. Spend more time with family

The percentage of people who are successful in their New Year's resolution: 8%

So millions of people each year set themselves up for failure by making a New Year's resolution that is doomed to fail. With an 8% success rate, it's a wonder why people continue to fool around with this ridiculous garbage.

Can't we make certain changes in our lives without categorizing them under a once a year resolution that is doomed to fail anyway? If we choose to grow throughout the entire year rather than just on New Year's Day, I think the success rate will also grow.

This year has been a true eye opener for me. I have: lost friends that I thought I would grow old with, brought old wounds to the surface with family members, improved relationships with old friends who will always be in my life, and realigned my priorities.

I am a completely different person today than I was a year ago and I didn't need a New Year's Resolution to help me make some positive changes.

I have a small group of very close friends who I can confide in and can trust. We can go days or weeks without talking and pick up the phone and our conversations will be as if we talk everyday. These strong friendships have stood the test of time and will weather any storm and I have realized the importance of nurturing these relationships.

My relationship with my children has grown tremendously this year. I have a sixteen year old boy who asks my opinion on important matters such as: sex, girlfriends, driving, drugs, and school. How many people can actually say that? I feel so blessed to have such open lines of communication with my boys.

My relationship with my husband is better this year as well. I have learned to curb my temper and resist using my razor blade tongue as a weapon of destruction (atleast most of the time). We work together rather than against eachother.

Most importantly, my relationship with myself has grown leaps and bounds. Rather than focus upon all of my flaws and the things that I hate about myself, I learned to find beauty in my flaws. Instead of refusing to look at my stretch marks, I now look at them as beauty lines... lines that gave me three precious gifts. I used to shame myself because I have "love handles", now I consider them exactly that... "love handles." My thighs are thick and I used to hate them; I would wear long shirts to hide them and loose pants in hopes that nobody would know their actual size. Now I realize that these thighs protect something precious, something that I do not give freely... "I've got diamonds at the meeting of my thighs." (Maya Angelou, Still I Rise)

You see, I love my friends, family, and myself and it did not take a New Year's Resolution to make that happen.