10-4 Magazine - For Today's Trucker

MAKING RESOLUTIONS STICK
BY FAMILY NURSE PRACTITIONER NORMA STEPHENS HANNIGAN

Well, here we are again at the beginning of a new year. We have bid farewell to the old one and welcomed the promise of great beginnings. For many people, the weeks around Christmas, New Years and other celebrations are ones of feasting and overdoing just about everything from eating and drinking to buying stuff we can’t really afford. But this “season of giving” seems to give us permission to be more generous with ourselves than we need to be, and by the end of it, many of us are upset, maybe even disgusted, with the way we feel.

Did you find that you needed those chewable heartburn pills more than ever? Did you find yourself awakening with a hangover all too frequently? Those seem to be the times when resolutions seem, well, most resolute. But most of the time they are reactionary; coming on the heels of the physical (and perhaps emotional) discomfort we feel when we are overdoing it.

Did you make your annual New Years resolutions? People make resolutions to feel like they are getting a fresh start, a chance to begin again and do things right in the coming year. Since we often make our resolutions reacting to feeling bloated and wasted, it’s hard to make them stick once we feel better, even though our goals haven’t been completely accomplished. The top ten goals that people choose for New Years resolutions are: 1) Lose weight; 2) Stop smoking; 3) Stick to a budget; 4) Save or earn more money; 5) Find a better job; 6) Become more organized; 7) Exercise; 8) Be more patient with others; 9) Eat better; and 10) Become a better person.

Were all ten of these your resolutions this year? Now that it’s February, do you feel like maybe you’ve overdone it with the resolutions, just like with the chestnut dressing and pumpkin pie? If so, this might be a good time to narrow down your choices to one or two, making them reasonable goals which stand a better chance of actually being accomplished. For example, the idea that you will quit smoking and lose weight all at the same time is not very realistic for most people. Each of those behaviors has an addictive component to them. Addictions are extremely difficult to overcome, so you might want to narrow your resolutions down to just one of these two. Yes, that’s allowed. Resolutions need not be written in stone. If you don’t cut yourself that slack, the temptation to give up the moment you encounter any obstacles is just too tremendous.

Back to our example - if you quit smoking first, you will probably be ahead of the game for several reasons. First, unlike eating, no one needs to smoke to stay alive, so once you win the battle with smoking, you’ve won the war as well. You no longer have to think about smoking every single day once you have successfully kicked the habit. Second, since you are no longer damaging your lungs, it is easier to exercise, which is essential for losing weight. One of the oldest excuses in the book to not quit smoking is “If I quit, I’ll gain weight” (I know, it’s the one I used for years). This may be true for some people, but the average weight gain after quitting smoking is only about 7 pounds. If you decide you are going to lose weight before you quit smoking and you get out there to exercise but can’t because you are huffing and puffing as a result of your smoking habit, you’ve already sabotaged your progress. The point is, if you are going to make resolutions, regardless of the behavior you want to change, making them in an order in which they will help you accomplish other goals makes sense.

If you are unable to keep your resolutions, find out why and devise another plan. You’re not a bad person; you are simply someone who needs to figure out a different strategy. Did you make too many resolutions? Did you choose goals that aren’t measurable? For example, “lose weight” is an honorable intention, but if you need to lose 100 pounds and you don’t cut that down into bite-sized pieces (pun intended), the average person will fail. Think about narrowing the goal to 10% of what you need to lose. That’s only 10 pounds to start with - you can do that!

And don’t get hung up on a rigid time-period as you attempt to make life changes. If you think of it as a “one day at a time” proposition, it makes it feel less overwhelming. “I’m going to do this just for today” can become your motto. Each day builds on the one before, and eventually you achieve your goal! These sayings come from the Twelve Step programs of Alcoholics Anonymous but apply to all of us who want to make a challenging behavior change. Most of the people with addiction disorders who are in recovery eventually figure out that it’s too hard to say, “I’m going to make this change forever.” FOREVER is a scary concept; TODAY is doable.

Most resolutions have to do with lifestyle changes to improve health. Emotional changes can improve physical health as well - better relationships with people in your life make you feel more secure and less anxious. If you are constantly in debt, the psychological burden can be tremendous, causing shame, guilt and resentment. Is there someone in your life you need to say something to but are afraid? Ask yourself the question, “What is the worst that could happen if I say this?” and then start imagining all the possibilities. The worst one is usually the one that is least likely to happen. Once you’ve gotten the possibilities down to the most likely one, decide if it’s worth the risk. Sometimes it is, sometimes it’s not. But if you haven’t thought about it in a logical way, it’s more likely you will just keep feeling miserable about the situation than if you have analyzed it and come to a conclusion about the next step. Feeling miserable emotionally affects your physical health, making it harder to control blood pressure, causing difficulties with sleep and making it harder to fight disease, including cancer.

Resolutions need to be reevaluated from time to time, especially if you find that it’s harder than you thought (and most of us do). ANY time you decide to make a positive change for your health is a good time for a resolution, not just at New Years.