Rising Star Adventure

New Years' Resolutions--Starting and Stopping them

Well, I usually only write in this when I'm doing so last minute at the end of the month because I haven't done an entry for Rising Stars. But now I'm trying to do the 30-Day Blog Challenge for RS, so I guess I'll be writing last minute every night. lol Hey, I'm being honest. I'm 46. If I haven't broken my procrastination habit, especially after nearly 12 1/2 yrs in the Army, I'm just not going to. Live with it! I do. lol

So, TECHNICALLY I don't have to start the challenge until the 5th, but I'm worried I will forget, even with an alarm, so I'm starting early to get into the habit. See, I'm a good procrastinator.

Today's prompt is "What is the most fun you've had breaking a New Years resolution? And if you don't make resolutions, imagine making one, and then tell us how you'd most enjoy not keeping it."

Well, I'll be honest, I never officially thought of these moments as "fun" but I have broken New Years' resolutions and enjoyed doing it--you know, before the guilt hit.

I have often made the resolution to stop eating sweets. In fact, I did it for 7 years before I FINALLY succeeded. (Though one of those years I didn't bother trying, but I tried 6 of the 7 years.) I have a bad sweet tooth and it gets the better of me quite often. I know I should eat less. (Especially now that I'm pre-diabetic...and I do eat fewer sweets now.) But they're just so darned yummy!

It all started back around 1989 when I decided to quit sodas (I worked at a movie theater and got them for free, so it was tough), sweets, and chewing gum. (I didn't chew that much gum, but I needed a gimme. lol)

Well, I really struggled with the soda, but I made it the whole year and, you know what? It was life changing! I've never really drank sodas again. In fact, I probably haven't had a dozen since then. I'm very proud of myself!

I easily made it through not chewing gum and now rarely do, even more rarely than before. Of course, that's especially good since I now have TMJ thanks to the Army. Anyway...

As for the sweets, at the time, my brother was working at Shoney's a family restaurant that serves mostly traditional American foods. Well, one day he brought home a French silk pie (basically, a fancy chocolate pie). Like most sweet lovers, I love chocolate! Well, I'd made it to March, or maybe it was April, but I was dying for something sweet! That pie looked so good in the freezer. (My brother was one of those folks who still had Halloween candy left over by the time Easter came around, so he wasn't at all tempted by it. Who knows why he even brought it home?)

Well, I decided to have a piece of pie. I knew I was breaking my resolution, but I had so far left to go, it was unrealistic to think I could ACTUALLY make it! I might as well break it now! Makes sense. So, I had a piece of pie. It was delicious. I decided to have another piece. YUM! Then another...and another...and another...then the whole thing was eventually gone. DOH! THAT'S not what I meant to do! My brother was SO MAD! Mom wasn't too happy with me either. And to top it off, I felt pretty sick. I've never eaten another piece of any chocolate pie again, French silk or not. Ick!

Then there was the year I DID finally do it! 1996 was my year! (Actually, I had a serious life trauma that year, but it was my year to not eat sweets!) I was in Korea, so I figured I had this thing licked! I'd made it the first few months on my own in the U.S., but when I got to Korea, I discovered they didn't really eat a lot of sweets, not like Americans do. (Weirdos. Hahaha...Nah, I'm just jealous!) I was teaching English to the Korean military and had a close call with one student really pressuring me to have something sweet, but another stood up for me and made him back off. Otherwise, I managed to make it through without too much stress.

Then, as New Years 1997 approached, I knew I was going to be successful! I decided that I wasn't going to just go out and eat a bunch of sweets on January 1. I was going to wait until a natural moment presented itself. January came and went and I was still sweet-free with no real problem. Then came my birthday in February...the 17th. My neighbor upstairs made me a cake and invited me up for some. A natural moment presented itself, so I went up and had a piece. It was AMAZING! She offered me another. I took it. She offered me another. I took it. She offered me another. I took it. I had 4 PIECES! While TECHNICALLY I didn't break my New Year's resolution, I was very disappointed. Unlike soda which I no longer enjoy, I still LOVE sweets!

I think I'll give them up again for New Year's since I should with the pre-diabetes anyway. Maybe I'll be successful. Hopefully I'll be successful. But will it be a lifelong change? Probably not. How do you think I became pre-diabetic to begin with? (Okay, admittedly, part of it is from the minor traumatic brain injury from Iraq messing up my pituitary, but still, if I rarely ate sweets, I wouldn't be in this mess.)

Wish me luck! And good luck with yours!


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