Editor resolves to make better resolutions

It’s that time of year again. And by that time of year, I mean the beginning of the year. The time gym owners love the most and procrastinators love the least: the time for New Year’s resolutions.

I don’t know about you, but I always seem to have trouble keeping my New Year’s resolutions. I realized last year, after putting off going to the gym for an entire month, that Netflix wasn’t the only thing keeping me from becoming a gym superstar: it was the size of my resolution. This year I’m resolving to keep my New Year’s goals in moderation, and I think you all should too. Here are some ideas of more moderate (and fun) New Year’s resolutions you can try.

1. Make an effort to incorporate at least three small exercises into your everyday routine. I know it’s much more tempting to sit on the couch and enjoy three (or more, depending on how your week is going) episodes of your favorite TV show, but it’s just as easy to watch the “Walking Dead” while doing sit ups.

2. Cutting sweets out of your diet completely may sound like a good idea in theory, but I can tell you from experience that vowing to never eat sugar again makes you a lot less sweet. Instead of forgoing sweets forever, limit your chocolate and candy intake to once or twice a week. That way, you’ll still get to enjoy your favorite sugary snacks, and it will seem like more of a reward when you eat them.

3. Resolving to be nice to everyone, while a great goal, isn’t always possible. It’s pretty difficult to put a smile on your face when you’re running on 4 hours of sleep and have a surprise math test the same day. So instead of vowing to always be nice, try to make an effort to compliment a stranger each day, or do one big random act of kindness every week.

4. Instead of swearing off all social media forever (let’s be real, our culture today is dependent on Instagram and Twitter), make an effort to limit your time on social media to 1-2 hours per day. That way, you’ll be able to get your homework done before 10 p.m. while also checking out your friend’s #ootd on Instagram.

Moderation is key in making, and more importantly keeping, New Year’s resolutions. In fact, once you’ve successfully incorporated the moderated version of your New Year’s resolution, it will most likely be much easier for you to accomplish one of those big, generic resolutions (like becoming a gym superstar, or never going on Twitter ever again). I think the most important resolution of all, however, is resolving to stay committed to your resolution. Happy New Year’s resolutions everyone!

Kaley Martin is an Opinion Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.