Monday, January 16, 2012

Resolution as Way of Life

I had the opportunity to go for a forty minute walk with Dort Munder today. We don't know about you all, but we're both finding other people's promises very rewarding. We have both been enjoying the time this project has allowed us to spend together: both of us away from the offices, away from our phones and our computers, good conversation with a friend, enjoying nature.

For Dort, he's been encouraged to stick with the regimen more thoroughly, he tells me, than he has in the past -- he is pleased with this and feels physically well.

As for me, I think this blog would be a lot less productive if every post started off, "Haven't heard back from Dort just yet . . ." More importantly, I have been thinking more seriously about resolutions than I ever have: not necessarily about which ones I'd like to make or what I want to improve about myself, but I have been thinking about what a resolution means, why it's important to resolve, and (my most recent question) at what point does a resolution cease being a resolution and begin being a way of life?

We're two weeks in to this experiment, and Dort hasn't missed a day. (I have encouraged him to break up his routine with a bike ride or some yoga or swimming for half an hour -- not in addition to the run, but as a replacement for a run a couple times a week -- for a number of reasons, including staving off boredom, allowing recovery time, and improving overall health and well being.) But the point here is: Dort has carved out time in his very busy life to begin this process, to work towards running a 5K . . . for now, he has acknowledged, it's less important that he actually run the 5K, than that he works towards it. This project has become about the process, rather than the product, and that is a large part of what I'm asking.

When does a resolution become a way of life? We're more than two weeks into the new year, and many folks have stopped discussing their New Year's Promises*. Why is that? Didn't Noam Chomsky call for "constant resolution"!

Or was it "constant revolution"? and who is this Noam Chomsky guy?

I would be interested to know from folks who have stuck to resolutions in the past or who are maintaining this year's. Is there a date you shoot for, at which point you know once and for all your resolution is complete? If you have not stuck to your promises, why not, and why not start again today?

Smokers? How long must you go before you are no longer a smoker? Or is there some event you made it through without lighting up that signaled you?

Runners? How many miles?

Triathletes? How many sports? Well, three, I know, but when do you know you're a triathlete and not just trying to be a triathlete?

Dort's Running Tally:
As of 011 January 2012
Days Running:14
Minutes Run: 500+
Cross Training: 1 day

* We don't have to wait until New Year's Day to begin a resolution, and lapsing on a resolution doesn't have to be the end of one -- sometimes we have to turn the key several times before an engine fires up. That doesn't mean we can't make it to our destination.

No comments:

Post a Comment