A single bead of sweat drips from my brow and down the side of my face as I continue to peddle without gaining any ground on the stationary cycle. A middle-aged woman looks over my shoulder to view what I am looking at on the screen of my phone and then coughs—directly in my face. I get up to leave the gym already annoyed at the fact that all of the treadmills have been taken. From the look of the packed gym, it’s clearly the second day of January during the week when everyone is extremely gung-ho about their New Years resolutions.
It’s not until I get back to the car that I adjust my thoughts to view the positive aspects of the situation. Yes—this is the time of year when I have to wait a little longer for a treadmill at the gym, but it’s also the time of year when people come off of the high of the holiday giving season and focus on accomplishing goals that are set to better themselves.
People are motivated to achieve great things in the New Year. Fiery explosions from fireworks and the drop of the sparkly ball in New York City are reminders to those willing to set their annual resolutions, and people are working to become better versions of themselves. They usually come up with the same resolutions, but they are all ones that everyone should strive to do every year anyway.
Keeping as healthy as possible, learning more, connecting with other people, and doing the things that they always wanted to do is what life is all about. My ongoing resolutions from the summer remain the same. I want to run a marathon this year, just to say that I can, and finish writing my book, because these resolutions are the things that I really want to do and I should try to do them anyway.
Now, when I head to the gym and have to wait an extra five minutes hovering around the treadmills, I’ll remind myself that these new faces at the gym are just doing their best to better themselves and that I shouldn’t knock them for trying.
“The New Year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written. We can help write that story by setting goals.”
—Melody Beattie
Jazzed About Stuff 