Non-resolutions

So I am sure that everyone has experienced this... December 15-ish, if not before, you start to get nervous thinking about your "resolutions" for the following year.  Almost everyone will include at least one about "Exercise more" or "Lose x amount of weight".  Most people do really well in January, possibly on into February.  Gym memberships *and* attendance at said gym are up, I can imagine, like 100 fold in the beginning of the year.  Then slowly you start to get busy.  You start to make excuses like you are too tired after work.  You are too tired before work.  You forgot your gym clothes.  You took the stairs twice today and that should count as exercise.  The next time you think about it a month has gone by, then two months, and then all of a sudden you can't even remember when you saw the inside of the gym yet.  You are not alone.  You are certainly not the only one who fails at resolutions and goals that they make at the beginning of the year. 

Why is it that we fail at goals, wishes and wants for ourselves that we are SO passionate about at one time during the year?  Why is it that at the beginning of the year we have so much faith in ourselves and our abilities that we are willing to stake our future year's worth of happiness on the smallest statements?  It seems as if we are doomed to fail if we claim those statements as goals that we are interested in achieving.  It's like we, as humans, need our subconscious to trick us into achieving these goals by not putting them out there in the open.  That, perhaps, we need something like subliminal advertising to help us out with these resolutions as most people during the year will not keep even one of their resolutions.  I know that, in the past, most of the time by May I would have forgotten what any of my resolutions were from the beginning of the year. 

This year I decided that I wasn't going to participate in this "tradition" of making a decision at the beginning of the year that I was going to fail at throughout the year.  Instead, I am reviewing my life now, in February, for little things that I would like to either change or start doing that are manageable, because let's be reasonable... I have a husband... I have 4 children, 2 of which live with me full time and are under 2... I have a full time job that I love enough to want to spend more than 40 hours at... I don't have time for "change the world" type resolutions. 

However, I *do* have time for the following resolutions:

1. Have more patience today than I did yesterday
2. Utilize the parts of Once a Month Cooking that work for our family
3. Write a blog post everyday for at least 30 days
4. Become a better money saver

I am going to attempt to start #3 today.  I will utilize one blog post each to explain the four and their importance and significance to me in my life today.