Happiness the best resolution

January 22, 2007 —

It's a new year.

It's time to dust off those running shoes, throw away the junk food, and find the instruction manual to that treadmill you bought last January. Above all, it's time to begin promising yourself how much better the world will be with you in it this year. But, is this the only way to do it?

Along with millions of other Americans, I too have found myself with thoughts of a 'resolution' to begin my 2007. Whether it is to lose a few pounds, minimize swearing, or wake up for class, I am willing to bet that the number of college students to actually stick with their resolution until the end of December is few and far between.

It seems that the resolutions have a negative apprehension, and we believe we have been "bad," using this time to make up for it. For instance, when the resolutions first began with the Babylonians, the goal was to make sure to return borrowed farm equipment.

Nowadays, nothing has changed. We promise ourselves to quit smoking, quit drinking, lose weight, and to get out of debt, just to name a few. I am not saying these things aren't important, as they are, but I just wonder why these changes can't become a part of our daily lives.

I would propose to begin the New Year with a smiling face, and be ready to start January with a positive outlook rather than a negative one.

A friend of mine recently approached me asking for my take on her idea for a resolution. She found that she hadn't been as nice to people as she would have liked to have been in 2006 and decided to change. Working as a waitress, she found that this environment would be the perfect place to begin her list of things to do.

While working one night, she explained to me that another waitress needed the tips more than she did. So, without her co-worker knowing, she told the table that they had won a free dessert. What they didn't know was that they hadn't actually won a dessert. My friend had used some of her tip money from the shift to buy them a treat - increasing the bill, as well as the tip.

To me, this is what it should be all about. Yes, I agree that the New Year is supposed to be geared toward the resolution, but who says what that resolution has to be?

Who says a resolution can't be just planning to relax yourself by settling in your soap-filled bathtub twice a week? To me, that sounds a little better than having to stick to a strict diet. Plus, you need to bathe anyways, so it wouldn't hurt to lengthen that time a little.

My resolution this year is to have "me time." I have found that just finding this time in a day is hard enough, but it is the basis of my own sanity. I have learned to wake up a few minutes earlier in the morning and just take time to relax. This gets rid of the rushed feelings I tend to have when that early hour arrives.

As my friend found out, it is the smaller things in life that will keep you happy.

So, before you get signed up at the local fitness club, ask yourself one question. What will make YOU happy in 2007?