New Year's Resolution

This piece was inspired by Mother Combs in a new Facebook group (which I am so honored to be a moderator in).

"NEW YEAR NEW YOU
What is your New Year's Resolutions this year? How do you see your self completing your goals. Did you set yourself reasonable goals?
Write an article about your New Years Resolution/s for us to read."

I'm going to come right out and say it... To me, New Year's resolutions are bullshit.

What is the point of them? Make a goal and hopefully complete it by the end of the year? Why are they used when goals can be made at any point?

When I was 14-16, I always made a goal for myself to lose weight. SPOILER: It never worked! Do you want to know what it DID do though? Well, I guess if you didn't, you would have stopped reading so I wil say it anyways... It fueled my eating disorder. At the time, I was fighting bulimia because I thought I never lost enough weight from doing these resolutions.

Year after year, I was disappointed. I never "completed" my goals. Don't hurt myself for the whole year? Well, I slipped up so why try to stay clean for the rest of the year. Don't purge? Did it once, why try not to again? (Yes, they were ALWAYS health based.)

Eventually, with some help from an amazing organization, I learned that contrary to what I was basically taught growing up, I learned two things...

1. Goals can be made at any point.

2. Goals do not need to last a full year for them to be achieved.

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I have a much better way to make goals now. This is where I will teach you guys what I learned (first through a college health class in December 2021 then reminded of in June 2023 through that amazing nonprofit)...

They are called SMART goals

Specific: what exactly will you do to complete it? (Eg. "I will exercise by going on walks.")

Measurable: how can you measure your progress so you know when it is achieved? (Eg. "I will walk for 30 minutes.")

Attainable: do you feel this is possible given your situation? (Eg. "I feel comfortable being able to achieve this level of activity.")

Realistic: can this really happen for you? (Eg. "I have time in my schedule and this is within my ability.")

Time bound: how much of this will you do in a certain amount of time? (Eg. "I will go on two walks by the end of the week.")

*All of the examples are from the same binder that the picture is from.*

That is what the goal sheet for the weekly eight week group looks like. I was a co-facilitator with someone I happened to have already been friends with. Sorry it is sideways, Vocal rotated it in order to add it. It seems important enough to deal with the sideways image. 

Most of my goals now are day-to-day or week-to-week. My current goal is "I will not hurt myself at all before therapy next Thursday." I do have a longer term goal of not going above 25 net carbs (a little higher than what I am supposed to stay under, which is 20) before my next appointment with the neurologist and dietician on April 25th. For those of you wondering what I mean by "net" carbs, here is the equation...

Total carbs - fiber - sugar alcohols = net carbs

The net carbs is very important because I am on the modified Atkins diet (basically the ketogenic diet) as a treatment for my epilepsy. It has made a huge difference. I messed up one time and had two seizures because of it.

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I would love to know your thoughts on the idea of SMART goals! To me, they are more helpful than a New Year's resolution.