Your alarm goes off for the fourth time at 8:30 a.m. Wiping the sleep from your eyes, you pound on the alarm clock to make it go off. You curse at yourself for making a damn New Year’s resolution. Something you swore you’d never do. The date is Jan. 1 — oops, I mean Jan. 6. You were much too hungover to possibly wake up at 8:30 in the morning on the first. No, no. You made a deal with yourself that your resolution wouldn’t start until the sixth of the month. That made sense. After all, that’s when school would start.
You told yourself you would run all the way to the Student Recreation Center. All the way! The whole nine blocks from 18th and Ferry. As you turn on your iPod you realize you haven’t made a playlist for this occasion. In a rush you decide to put on Miley Cyrus’ “We Can’t Stop” because after all, only God can judge us.
The pace that you’ve set for yourself is great. You feel invincible. As you approach the hill on 18th you tell yourself that you can do it. It’s only a short incline. By the time you reach the music building, however, you start wishing you had hit the snooze button another time or perhaps driven your car.
You made it! You’re over the hill, so to speak. You coast to the Rec, ignoring the stabbing pain in your side and your cramping feet. As you approach the front doors you get a sinking feeling. There are so many people. This is ridiculous. “These people don’t even look like they work out,” you think to yourself.
You stroll into the doors like you own the place and come upon something you’ve never encountered before: a hand scanner. With a side glance to see if anyone is watching, you use your ID card to get in. Who needs a hand scanner anyway?
As you enter, you are quick to realize that there are no machines available. With a sunken feeling you contemplate walking back the nine blocks to your apartment to shower.
Free weights!
Yes, free weights.
Excitedly you head to the part of the gym that holds those glistening silver beauties. There aren’t many left, but that’s OK. You wanted to start light anyway, so you reach for the 15-pounders only to stop yourself. The number 30 is marked on the sides.
So, you wait. And wait.
By the time you should be heading back to your apartment you’ve really only gotten a few sets in. Dismayed and discouraged, you chalk down your visit to the Rec as a waste of time and don’t come back.
You’re not alone. By week two, only 75 percent of the people who made resolutions will still be working toward their goal, according to Statistic Brain. Besides, making a New Year’s resolution is destined to fail as only 8 percent of people will achieve their original goal. @@http://www.statisticbrain.com/@@
But, wait! You shouldn’t be disheartened. Maybe you simply need to adjust how you’re approaching things.
According to The Daily Beast, you just need to hold yourself to your goal and have fun. Or as sophomore Gabrielle Mueller puts it, “My primary goal is to complete actions that make me happy.” @@http://www.thedailybeast.com/@@ @@http://uoregon.edu/findpeople/person/gabrielle%2Amueller@@
Another good piece of advice is to make your goal in increments. Of course people aren’t going to be able to hold to a routine for a full year. It’s easy to fail when your goal isn’t complete for a year. Set earlier goals for each month instead.
So, do as The Daily Beast says and just revise your goals for the month of February. The New Year is just a day. Don’t put so much pressure on yourself.
If you do, by next week you’ll probably just be sitting on the couch thinking about how you should be working out just like you were on Dec. 30.