I’ve eaten too many chocolates this Christmas. And too many chips and cookies and crap. And like many others, on January 1st, 2010, I’m going to resolve to myself to stop consuming so much and lose a few pounds, especially before my annual trip to the spa the first weekend in February. I can’t possibly lie on the massage table looking like this.

I always tell myself that I don’t believe in making New Year’s resolutions. That’s because I pretty much never stick to them. Does anyone? I mean, the intentions are earnest, but the flesh is weak. Why do we put ourselves through the torture of yet another disappointment?

People don’t only resolve to lose weight, they resolve all kinds of things in the New Year. And I often benefit from it, for instance, because people often decide to learn something new, and some of them end up coming to me to learn guitar. January is always a busy month, almost as busy as September when people go back to school and back to work. Thank goodness, because Christmas often leaves me scraping the bottom of the bank account barrel. The flurry of new students starts to dwindle by the end of January, though, as they start to face the reality of learning an instrument. I can tell pretty quickly if they’re going to stick to it; learning anything takes a little practice. It doesn’t have to be a lot of practice, but some people start coming in every week to tell me they haven’t practiced at all.

I always tell them that practicing guitar is like flossing teeth. It’s not easy to get into the habit, but it doesn’t take a lot of time and the benefits are great. But even that little bit of time every day or even every two days, becomes overwhelming for some, and they start to feel guilty or embarrassed at their lack of commitment. Many of them, instead of saying that they just don’t like it, end up politely coming up with other reasons for quitting. And I just have to say “It’s okay, it’s not your thing, no hard feelings!”

When we resolve to learn something new, it’s always with the right intention, just as with resolving to lose weight or go to the gym regularly. The follow-through is the real challenge. We have lots of enthusiasm in the beginning; it’s fresh, new, and we feel good about ourselves for doing it. The good intention waxes, and then it wanes. And sometimes we find out that what we thought might be a good idea is not really our thing.

Which is why I always tell a new student to rent a guitar for a month instead of buying one, and to commit to a month’s worth of lessons. Then at the end of that, they can decide if they want to continue. As far as I’m concerned, if they’re not getting any pleasure out of playing, it’s not worth the money!

Maybe that’s the same attitude we should take with our other New Year’s resolutions. Try it out for a month and see how we do, and give ourselves permission to let go if it’s not our thing. It doesn’t mean we have to give up any hope of learning something new or losing weight or getting in shape; it just means that what we have chosen may not be the right fit. So for the month of January, I’m going to commit to eating healthier and getting more exercise.  Are you with me?

We’ll see how it goes 🙂

IJ