Recap Of 2009 Goals

Friday begins the start of a new year. Normally at this time of year people make resolutions. I used to "try" to do this, always making the same resolutions. Such as lose weight. Do such and such so many times a day every day. And other things to that effect. I started out every year OK, but I always lost steam about two or three weeks after the new year. If I had one bad day or did not accomplish what I set out to I would give up. And that would be the end of my resolution.

Last year I set some long-term goals for myself to accomplish in 2009. Actually, as I look back at it, it looks like I only had one long-term goal and the rest were short term goals or a continuation of what I had already been doing. I am copying and pasting my goals from last year into this entry.

1. Maintain my weight. Pretty sure this is a done deal.
2. Strength train 3 times a week.
3. At least 5 days of cardio. Even better would be a full 7 days even if it's only 10 minutes. I don't HAVE to do a full mile each and every time I get on the elliptical.
4. Positive thinking, positive self talk and meditation. These three things have always helped in the past, so I need to really make them habits. I tend to start these and over time they fade away. May I need a calendar reminder, lol.
5. To check in monthly with myself to see how I'm doing on my goals and how my body feels in general. See where I'm slacking and needing improvement.
6. Stretch, stretch and stretch some more. I really need to take my time and not rush through this. Twice a day, morning and evening.
7. Continue to work on my walking alone. I DO INTEND to be walking unassisted at the end of 2009. This is my MAJOR goal.

For number one I'm sorry to say that I was not able to accomplish. I ended up with quite a few injuries in my lower legs and feet and had to take several months off from my cardio. I am about 10 pounds heavier than I was last year. This is technically OK as I am still in the healthy weight range for my height. My pants still fit and that's what I go by for the most part. The scale can go up and down, and I understand that is normal. I will not be concerned too much about the number on the scale unless my pants become too tight.

For number two, I was able to stick with it. I had days off certainly, and this is normal. It's not realistic to think that I will do strength training three days a week every week for the entire year. Life gets in the way, or should I say life happens. Illnesses, vacations, and unexpected houseguests are part of life.

Number three I've come to believe was a bit more of a challenge than I should have set for myself. At the end of 2008 I believe I was doing five days a week of cardio, so I thought that I would be able to continue that. I'm not sure if trying to complete five days a week was a contribution to my injuries, but it might have been. I was stubborn and figured that I'd be able to push myself to do the same intense cardio routine every week.

Number four I did pretty well with. For the most part I did not talk to myself in a negative way. I tried my best to think on the bright side of things. I can't say that I did much in the way of meditation, but that's OK. The main thing I accomplished was positive thinking and positive self talk.

For number five I started out fine, but I slacked off after about three months. I had it in my mind to write an update on the first of every month. That obviously did not happen one month and I kept delaying getting it done until I just skipped it entirely. And of course once I skipped one month, I skipped a second month, and then I skipped a third month, and so on.

For number six again I did OK. I did go weeks and months at one point without stretching at all. But essentially I came back around to it and got it done. Stretching twice a day is good for me. I tried doing it three times a day that that was a bit much. And once a day was not enough. Doing it twice a day makes it so my legs don't completely tighten up so it feels like I'm starting from scratch the following day.

And finally number seven. My big, huge, main goal. I did the mistake of setting myself an end date, saying I wanted to walk on my own buy the end of 2009. I think this put a lot of pressure on myself and I felt like I had two get it done in record speed. The first week of January 2009 I did fairly well, but I did not take the time to do it the right way. I wanted to walk on my own so badly that I skipped certain steps. What I should have done was to set a certain time each day to practice walking with my walker. If I had done that I could have worked my way up to not needing my walker at all. My main obstacles were balance of course, but I think even more than that... I know that even more than that it was an issue of confidence and fear. Not so much confidence I don't think, although it does play a part. I still find myself concerned with what people think of me when they see me walking. For some reason it's still hard for me to get it through my head that people do not care about what I am doing or how I am doing it. They're just worried about what they're doing and how they're doing it. But the absolute main obstacle was fear. I have a fear, a deathly fear, of falling. I need to work through the fear and once I do that the rest will come easily I think.

This entry is getting a bit long, so I will post my new year's goals tomorrow. My question to you all is do you set resolutions on New Year's Eve or a week before new year's? Do you set an end date for your resolutions or do you leave them open ended? Do you have large resolutions, that you might be able to break down into smaller goals to reach your main objective?