I saw a great post for the start of our new year. It read: “I’m opening a new gym called ‘Resolutions.’ It will have exercise equipment for the first two weeks in January and then I will turn the gym into a wine and beer bar for the rest of the year.”
Today is Jan. 2. For many of us, it’s also day two of our New Year’s resolutions. Our intentions are all well-meaning. It is suggested you need strong emotional intelligence to pick, succeed and maintain your resolutions. I am so emotional intelligence deprived, I had to look up “emotional intelligence” to find its definition.
According to Coventry University in England, there are three main branches of emotional intelligence — the ability model, the trait mode and the mixed model. The vague summary report of “emotional intelligence” states: “There is some debate as to whether emotional intelligence is a set of skills that need to be learned and improved upon or whether it is a set of personality traits that are inherent and self-identified … or a mixture of both.” Huh?
Since I don’t fully understand the final report, it’s proof I have a low IQ, an even lower emotional intelligence IQ, or a combination of both. Either way it explains my inability to rewire my brain to effectively pick my New Year’s resolutions.
Most experts agree about 80 percent of our resolutions are abandoned, forgotten or neglected by the end of January. Some social psychologists call New Year’s Eve the countdown to “resolution disappointment.”
I read stories in past editions of The Bakersfield Californian that highlighted New Year’s resolutions from local media personalities, elected officials and us regular folks. There were common resolutions shared by many. Is your 2023 resolution on this top five list? They are: losing weight, becoming more organized, improving finances, watching less television and exercising more.
As a long-time gym advocate, I can attest to the “exercise more” failed resolution. I know I don’t look it, but my gym days go way back to the racquetball courts at what used to be the Boys and Girls Club on 29th Street. Many years ago, the building was converted to the beautiful new home of Garden Pathways.
There always seem to be new things at the gym in January. New faces with curious and determined expressions. New workout bags. The latest in athletic wear. Wearable technology. The newest ear pod fashions. By the end of January, the New Year’s resolution crowd slowly begins to dissipate, and the usual gym rats no longer must wait their turn on the exercise machines or wait for an open lane in the swimming pool.
And don’t forget, scientific evidence states we get our best chance at health by cultivating healthier habits rather than by losing weight. According to BioMed Central, an internationally acclaimed research company, “The diet industry is a $60 billion-per-year industry with a 95 percent failure rate.”
I checked with my close circle of friends and family to survey their 2023 resolutions. One resolution not found on the above list is to not make a resolution. I was told: “I never keep them. Why set myself up for failure?” and “I am trying to maintain a healthier lifestyle year-round already. I don’t need a resolution to motivate me.”
Well, excuse me for asking.
Here are my New Year’s resolutions for 2023, which include “no” to the following: alcohol, sweets, sodas, red meat and flour.
I have been successful in the past and kept to my resolutions. I keep them until May 31 because everything changes on my June 1 birthday.
I do have certain exceptions to my resolutions.
The first exception is, if I can see the ocean from where I sit, all resolution restrictions are off. The second is, I can break my resolution rules if I am out of California. I share this with you so it will be impossible for me to sneak into the Arizona Café to have my favorite chili verde with an ice-cold Corona before May 31. It would be too embarrassing to publicly fail you, my readers.
That’s unless, of course, I decided to join the “Resolution Gym” in January.
Happy New Year resolutions!
Email contributing columnist Steve Flores at floressteve32@yahoo.com. The views expressed here are his own.
