26.2

8:54 PM | 8 Comments

On July 15, 2007 Missoula will host its first marathon. I’ve decided to run in it, and that is my New Year’s resolution. What does everyone have against New Year’s resolutions? Probably the most common reason is that they won’t be kept anyway. Other reasons include, “if something needs to be changed in my life then I’m not going to wait until January first to change it” and “there’s nothing I want to change” which I really don’t buy. More likely there is nothing you would like to share or dwell on.

In the past I’ve been one of the clever who resolve to not make any resolutions, but after thinking about it some, resolutions can be a good thing. Everyone has things that they would like to change in their lives. Lose weight, exercise more, save more money, give more to charity, write a book, get a (new) job, get better grades. Perhaps the difficult part is not being overwhelmed by all the things you’d like to change. Just pick just a couple of important ones to work on.

Why wait until New Year’s Day to make a resolution? Well, it’s not that you have to wait until then, but rather that the day is the tipping point. What have you been waiting on? Why not resolve now to change. It’s accepted practice, and you can tell people about it. That’s not a bad thing. If it’s personal, you don’t have to publish it on the Internet, but your friends can help you. Telling people makes it difficult to just brush it aside.

I don’t think life is meant to be a series of events that happen to you. Life is meant to be lived. Decide to change something for the better and do it.