A New Year...

...well, almost. But it's the time of year where not only do we analyze what is behind, we look towards the future. There are certainly predictions to be made politically-- even, arguably, resolutions-- but I will, for the moment at least, leave those to people wiser than I. The matter of personal New Year's resolutions is quite challenging enough.

I've never been a huge fan of New Year's resolutions, simply because they virtually always fizzle in a very short amount of time. Also, there are things in my life (as is the case for most of us) that I know I should change but don't particularly want to.

The main one of these, for me, is my exercise habit. I have (usually) good academic habits, decent eating habits, and workable sleep habits-- at least, I do better than some of my peers at university (although that really does not say much at all). But when it comes to exercise, I have a difficult time pushing into it. Partly I think that relates to my tendency to be very accident prone-- almost every time I start to really exercise, I seem to get hurt. Which has the general impact of turning me off the whole concept altogether.

Still, since I had major knee surgery this summer, the anatomical problems with my body are theoretically fixed. However, my doctor and physical therapist both warned me that unless I get serious about exercising and strengthening, I will never get to a higher level of fitness than the functional place I am currently at-- able to walk, including up and down stairs, but bending rather stiffly and unable to run more than a couple of steps comfortably. So I guess that's what you might call motivation to change this habit.

Encouragement to exercise aside, I have no idea yet what (if anything) I will be doing for my New Year's resolutions. I will think on it in the next few days-- 2009 isn't over yet. Leo Babauta at Zen Habits has created a new website (6changes.com) dedicated to helping people achieve six designated resolutions, or changes in their lives, with some useful and simple techniques. Since he has provided tremendously useful ideas for me in the past, who knows, maybe I will jump in and give it a try. Just for a preview of an article on the site-- How to Form the Exercise Habit. Do check it out, along with the other stuff on the site, if you are contemplating seriously forming any new habits for your resolutions in 2010.