I don't want to offend anyone... (I think I should start every blog, from now on, with that disclaimer.  lol) but I just don't like new year's resolutions.  It's not that I think people are incapable of changing, nor that I don't think they have all the greatest of intentions... It's just that people, perhaps, make the mistake of setting themselves up for failure: pressuring themselves too much with a pristine time line, and with 'perfection'.  Not only that, usually, people announce their resolutions to the world, and then they have an audience ready to pounce on them as "police" in case they fail.  Disappointed, if they fall off the wagon, they throw their hands up in the air because they just "tossed the whole year out the window," and give up.  These kinds of new year's resolutions make me sad because people forget that, basically, every single new day is a NEW year. You can make a new year be ANYTHING you want it to, on any day! Instead, I propose a new kind of "new year" resolution: Living every day with personal and neighborly awareness.  

Yes, that's right! Living a life in which you are aware of YOURS and OTHER'S diabetes, and paying attention to it and your body's needs every single day... at least a LITTLE bit of that day... Will go leaps and bounds toward changing your self care, your control, your outlook on life, your understanding of others, and your positivity.  If you learned that making just ONE change to your daily habits, at a time, can lead to everlasting, manageable change... then do that TODAY! :) Don't leave it until January 1st, or some other magical date... Do it now.  Don't announce it with fanfare, or with pride... Who needs to know? No one! lol And no, by one little thing, I don't mean going on a crazy, strict diet or exercise regimen, or weighing yourself every day... I mean... perhaps try to have one veggie at every meal... or try to walk more...  I, for example, walk to my workplace instead of taking the bus.  If Winter scares you, buy some Yaktrax. Those things are worth it! lol 

So, if making drastic, unrealistic, life changes on January 1st is not a viable solution... then what's left? Perhaps applying lessons you learned from 2010! What little thing could you change now, that you really had to learn the hard way in 2010? As for me... I know that...

• I will probably spend most of 2011 seeking to learn more from positive people/influences who have lived for decades and decades with Diabetes... Type 2, and Type 1. I think, after all, this is why we seek this forum... And while we may commiserate and relate to others in our desperate times, this commiserating can sometimes get out of hand and lose perspective, pitting people against each other, or even making newly diagnosed folks feel as though there is no hope for them. I feel like many of these discussions are far from constructive or beneficial, so I won't be engaging in them anymore, save if there are new people involved and they need some polite educating.  Other than that, I refuse to engage in the same ol' song and dance, pity party, with people who ought to know better, or have more respect for their fellow man.
• I will probably accept failure as a part of life, and choose to accommodate it as a necessary tool for my Diabetes management.  We are ALL going to fail at one point or another.  It is not a matter of if, but of when.  Falling off the wagon, miscalculating carbs in a meal, feeling guilty for bad numbers during stressful situations or illness... When we accept that we have failed, and are going to fail at one point or another because we are human, we can move on to learn from the said failure, and we can forgive ourselves.  The failures may even become less and less, and that's okay... Life without failure is a life without lessons.
• I will not compare myself to other people's progress.  I am my own master, and my own challenge.
• I will not weigh myself every day.  Who the hell cares.  As long as my numbers are in good control, my body can lose weight at the rate it wants to! It sure put on the weight at the rate it felt like, and that wasn't overnight... so why put unnecessary pressure on myself? Maybe I should weigh myself once a year, on New Year's day.  lol 
• I will not pledge to be perfect.  In fact, every year, this is my strongest new year's resolution yet.  I PLEDGE I WILL NOT BE PERFECT.  I AM AN IMPERFECT DIABETIC, I WILL SOMETIMES LOSE CONTROL, I WILL SOMETIMES FALL OFF THE WAGON, I WILL SOMETIMES ACHE TOO MUCH TO EXERCISE, I WILL SOMETIMES GAIN A POUND OR TWO... BUT I WILL NEVER, EVER, EVER... HOLD A GRUDGE AGAINST MYSELF.  

If you want to have ANY resolutions this year... make that one resolution the one that matters... I WILL FAIL, I WILL LEARN, I WILL FORGIVE MYSELF, I WILL GET UP AGAIN AND MOVE ON, AND I WILL NEVER, EVER... HOLD A GRUDGE AGAINST MYSELF. Resolve to make every day be a new year's resolution day, and seek to implement new things in your life, ALWAYS. You'll thank me later for it.  :P