New Year’s Resolution?

For at least the past five years I have resolved each new year not to make New Year’s Resolutions.  I feel like making a change in your life is something that you do because you want to make a change, not because the date on the calendar changes.  If you want to change something, you will do it whereas if you expect the calendar to do the changing for you, you will be disappointed.

This year, however, I decided to make a change to my anti-resolution resolve.  I figure why not make some fun, loose goals rather than resolutions.  The word resolution sounds so intimidating and restricting that I am replacing it with the word goals instead.  I am not into commitment enough to make resolutions.  Half the time I cannot even commit to social plans.   Here then are a few of my New Year’s Goals.

1. Stop eating Taco Doritos.  I have a problem.  I really need to cut back.  Eating the family-sized Taco Dorito bag in one sitting is pretty darn unhealthy.  I think this is an achievable goal since I will likely not be tempted to buy them once I return to the U.S. and have a kitchen again.

2. Participate in an organized fitness “race.”  Since I have a knack for losing spectacularly, I am not all that into athletic competition.  I have, however, gotten pretty into individual fitness activities like running and cycling, and I think I would feel a great sense of accomplishment if I completed a “race” this year.  The Tour de Donuts does await me in September, so this too could be an achievable goal.

3. Decide what I want to do with the rest of my life.  I will be turning 25 in 2012, so I should probably get my ducks in a row here.  At the moment, I am considering making a big switch and investing a bit of time and money into a second degree in nursing instead of an advanced degree in my current field.  I should probably figure that one out this year.

4. Do a century ride (100 miles) on my road bike.  Unless my life takes a particularly unexpected turn, I will almost definitely reach this goal this summer.  I don’t have any grand goals to combine my century ride with my fitness race goal, but rather I would like to get a nice, century training ride in.

I think these could be a good start for a commitment-phobe like me.