resolutions

     I don't make New year's resolutions, but many people do. Soon there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. As with other promises to reform, New year's resolutions are an all-or-nothing idea to some people. If you fall off the diet wagon and eat a doughnut, why not the whole box, as long as the diet is "broken" anyway. If you fall off the temperance wagon and have a drink, why not go on a three day toot? If the resolution is broken, all bets are off, or so it seems. No wonder these don't usually work. The approach is extremist, and comes with built-in failure. Perhaps something reasonable--to try to eat more vegetables, or to avoid going to clubs or where "drinking" friends go, would work better. Something with a built in plan for what to do in case of a lapse--for instance, if you eat that doughnut, okay, but now you have to have a cup of raw vegetables. Make a deal you can live with.