New Year's Resolutions

I might lose a few pounds this new year. I might not.

I might play more golf this year, if finances get better. I might not. If I get to play more, I might play a little better. I might not.

I might even eat more healthy foods that I already do. I might not.

I plan to attend more local baseball games this year. But, I might not.

I might be able to become more organized in 2009. I probably won't.

I might lose fewer socks this year than normal, but I probably will lose a couple.

I might write better columns than last year. But, some pholks might say that shouldn't be too hard.

The point is pholks, I don't make New Year's Resolutions anymore. I gave that up quite a few years ago. I resolved not set myself up for more failure, a fact which most people just don't realize they do each turn of the calendar.

Good intentions are just that: intentions.

If you don't believe that the goals the majority of us set at the start of a new year are, with few exceptions, a waste of time, just ask gym owners, workout mentors and diet plan sellers. Their businesses zoom in January and taper off pretty darned soon. Some pholks re-start their body-beautiful surge as summer nears, but it doesn't last long. Just check out the beaches and the pool decks and you'll see what I mean.

Don't get me wrong, I think it is great that people want to improve their lives in any way they can. Be it fiscal, physical, emotional, psychological or spiritual, any improvement or attempt at improvement is a great thing. But things just don't work that way for those of us who are simply mortal.

It took me a lot of years, but a dozen or so years ago, I finally accepted the fact that if I were to become a better person, live a healthier life and become easier to get along with, that making New Year's Resolutions wasn't going to cut it. Since then, I have not suffered from the “I just couldn't do it” syndrome and I have found some success.
An example is the resolution I made quite a few years ago, I would write the first of several books I have been composing in my mind. I used to say to myself, “Self, this surely is the year I will get down to it and start typing a chapter a week. This is it. Now is the time.”

But self always seemed to have trouble getting started. The result was another year gone by with northing accomplished. And then I came to a fork in the road and I took it. I stuck that fork in the ground and said, “You know, I'll write that book when I feel like it and when I have nothing else to do.”

Pholks, I'm not suggesting that each of you totally reject the idea of New Year's resolutions. I only suggest that you pause and really consider getting your mind right as you hang up the new calendar, and don't burden yourself with added stress of failure.

AND IF YOU'VE FAILED TO REALIZE that it is now against the law to text while driving, Caltrans is using its lighted mobile traffic signs along major highways stating “No texting while driving January 1” and “Report Drunk Drivers, Dial 911.”

Good idea, but I just want to know why it is necessary to go to the expense of putting up signs to encourage people to use common sense.

I can see future signs saying “Don't run with anything sharp in your hand. You'll put an eye out,” or “Be sure to wear clean underwear when you travel,” or “Always consider a gun to be loaded,” or “If something seems to be too good to be true, it probably is.”

Happy New Year to all and remember baseball spring training is only two months away.

Miles can be reached at mshuper@valleyvoicenewspaper.com