Every year, most of us make some resolutions for the New Year. And like most of you, I have a list of things I’d like to accomplish this year.
Sometimes it’s just plain hard to get MOTIVATED. I h
ave a number of items on my list and maybe that is my first mistake. Of course paying attention to my faith in God is at the top of the list. I certainly need to be better about paying attention to the path he wants me to follow instead of the trail I’m trying to blaze.
There are many things I’d like to do more consistently. One of those items is blogging more often. Part of accomplishing a goal is to, ‘just do it’. Instead of setting a big goal of writing an 800 word essay on 
a pressing issue of the day; first, I just need to get into the habit of hitting the blog more often. So you will, hopefully, be seeing more posts from me and sometimes you might just wonder why I bothered! It’s just part of the process and me trying to stick to the plan.
Like many folks, I’d like to lose a few pounds. For years I’ve been in the habit 
of skipping breakfast and lunch. I have no problem just having my one cup of coffee and going until almost 7 P.M. with nothing in between. Even years ago, when running the restaurant, I normally only ate one meal a day. Trouble is, that one meal tends to be almost right before I go to bed — very bad for your health!
That is a hard habit to break. Now I try to at least have something for breakfast and it’s usually oatmeal. You don’t even have to buy, ‘instant’ oatmeal. Did you know that? The regular oatmeal nukes just fine in less than 2 minutes. I like to use plain oatmeal and throw in some brown sugar with cranberries and orange zest. Simple, quick, and it tastes good too.
One of the tricks to losing weight is get your metabolism off to a running start in the morning. Hence, you have to ‘break’ the ‘fast’ of the night’s sleep. On the days I have breakfast I find I am unable to skip lunch. If I don’t eat in the morning, I don’t miss not having lunch. But if I have breakfast, I am unable to skip lunch because I’m just too hungry. You would think it would be the other way around!
Of course, getting more exercise is also on my list. I am not an early riser by nature and it is even harder to convince myself to be up and out in the cold morning air to go walking at 7 A.M., but I’m getting better. I walk the pasture with my dog and sometimes my horse follows along. Of course, he just wants to be fed but it’s still somewhat amusing.
I’m trying to think positive and stay focused. What are your tricks for getting motivated and sticking with your plan, even when you just can’t seem to find that motivation?
