Just saw Barb's "Quitting Smoking" thread, & I think it's great! Queen AlienBZ (my Mom; I'm AlienBZ on the other gaming sites I belong to, such as Adventure Point, Just Adventure, etc) used to smoke for years but finally quit cold turkey on January 1, 1979 (IIRC what she told me several weeks ago when she and I were discussing the need for me to clean up my act) for her New Year's Resolution that New Year's Day 1979.

And here's why we need to clean up our acts -

But, first, here's the backstory:

I think Christmas is all about hope, and love, joy, peace. I'm at the point now in my life where my best friend told me today that if we don't turn from our bad habits, if we keep letting them dominate us (such as anger, smoking, etc) and clean up our acts (only reason I'm thinking this is the Old Year 2011 is coming to an end and a Brand New Hopeful Better Than All My Old Years New Year (hey, I'm getting excited!) 2012 is fast coming upon us) then God will not work the miracles that we want in our lives, b/c I know Christmas is a time for miracles - after all, when Jesus Christ came to earth as a man, that, in itself, was a miracle - the first Christmas Day miracle in history, and Jesus did many miracles in his day and he still works these miracles even today thru the Holy Spirit. I know b/c my best friend had miracles happen to her already and so did her live-in boyfriend. And me, I'm expecting a miracle myself and also for Queen AlienBZ (Mom). And I believe that the good stuff of Christmas (hope, love, miracles, etc) shouldn't end on January 1 or 2, they should continue just as strongly all thru the New Year, and get "fired up" that is, renewed every future Christmas (such as on Christmas Day 2012, for instance) so they'll continue all thru the New Year of 2013, etc, etc, etc.

So, ok, shall we begin to discuss the need to clean up our act (that is, if we really need to, I'm not trying to force you into anything but only if you really truly want to, rather)?

I'll go first:

For the past 50 years (since I was 8 years old) I've had a problem with anger in my life, this anger was my anger, and then 10 years after that (at age 18) I had a problem with jealousy of others in my life & I let it dominate me and it controlled my behavior. That's all I'm going to say about myself at this point, if you want to know any details, just PM me.

I do not believe in New Years Resolutions and I believe that any moment in time is the right time to better ourselves.

Good luck to you on your journey.

Ana

I agree with Ana.

Ana, could you please tell us why you don't believe in a new year's resolution? I'd sure like to hear it.

Cruise, I'm pretty sure she explained why in the rest of that sentence.

A true commitment is made when you are ready to embrace a change in your life. For instance if I want to get healthy and want to start eating right and I am ready to do so I will do it right now, right this second. Postponing it to New Years Eve serves no purpose. If I choose to be unhealthy till then only says you are not fully committed.

I always hate January at my gym because it is full of new members keeping "New Years Resolutions". In two weeks, the club returns to normal and you will not see the newbies anymore. The odds of someone keeping a New Years REsolution are slim.

If you wish to work on your temper, today is a great day to do so.

Ana

My New's Year's Resolution this year is the same as every other year and that is to make NO resolutions.

Ana has the right idea, live every moment of every day the best you possibly can. You don't have to wait for a monumental 'date' to start living well.

Congrats to you cruise02 for wanting to work on your issues. Best of luck and I'll send some positive thoughts that you achieve all you want.

That makes so much sense Ana I stopped making them years ago!!

Ana, I printed out this thread, showed it to Queen AlienBZ, and the Queen agrees with you, Ana. She said "you're right" about not waiting until a certain day to start cleaning up our acts.

So since I want a clean heart, a clean mind, and a clean mouth, I'm starting immediately, right this second!

Ok, I'm now committed. (As soon as I typed the "Ok, I'm now committed," a smile came to my mouth/lips).

EDIT - Title bar of thread was changed according to what Ana helped me to realize re New Year's Resolutions (Thanks, Ana!).

Well, some people need to have something
to start with, and if it is the new year
to make resolutions ...
Dont forget that we are not all the same,
so we do things different.

Cruise

and

Thanks, Boomers! Ok, Here's what I've just did (although the location is a bit different from my current location - the location in photo is at a friend's house, but currently I'm at home, but the action (tossing it all out) is identical.

Cruise02 Tossing It All Out A Moment Ago Today

Since I did this, I feel a bit cleaner inside now, almost as if I've been washed with soap & water.

I totally agree with Ana. Last year I made up my mind to lose weight. I reached my goal by December and lost 19 lbs.

Good luck to you.

Bets

I think ive found your 19 pounds flutist.

Atta girl Cruise! Good luck to you!

Ana

Um, what do you think of the photo I linked you to? It represents the New Me.

Plus, as I've been inactive for many months (over a year, IIRC) and eating a bit too much junk food (cookies, crackers, candy), I decided a complete overhaul (hence the photo representing the new me) is in order - I'm starting to eat right (so far today I had stuffed cabbage, and 1/2 toasted Christmas dinner roll w/ butter, I put two Christmas cookies out (but did not eat them yet - waiting), then I figured I should start taking walks so I'd get my old strength, energy, muscles, and stamina back - walked 1 mile today regardless of the 29˚ F in our area and 9 MPH wind, as well as I've already (since getting an imac G3 a month ago) started to help Mom carry heavy bags of groceries upstairs from our cellar when she goes to the grocery store back of our house (as well as going to gro. store for her sometimes) which I've never wanted to do before getting that imac G3.

And starting this week (this past Monday) I've started taking a bath like I used to in the old days - once every other night, (Mom does the same), but previous to this I tried to avoid taking a bath (too lazy, I guess) as many days as possible, and only took one after I was all smelly.

So now that I'm back from my walk, I'm going to eat, have hot chocolate, these cookies that I set out for myself, finished that other half of the Christmas roll toast from earlier today.

EDIT - Had the other Christmas roll half w/ butter, cookies, H2O, hot chocolate & hot tea W/ milk - Yummy! Now I'm all warmed up, thankful (even though the sun was shinning) that I did not take a laptop, walk 1.5 mile to bus stop to go to Barnes & Noble today & wait out in the cold for busses, then have to worry about walking all that way back home!

EDIT 2 - Had been worrying nonstop since Oct 2011 so at 8 PM tonight after Queen AlienBZ told me something I did not like to hear after I had repeatedly voiced these worries to her (and after having received the Queen's answer to this worry, no wonder the Queen didn't like it, etc) I left the room feeling very angry, and verbalizing out loud, I felt like cussing under my breath (which has been nearly impossible to break), but I didn't cuss, instead I took a seat, got out my journal, recorded what just happened - this incident, what I was worrying about, and ended up with having to make one of 2 choices:

--choice # 1 - keep worrying, keep pestering the Queen, and face the negative consequences of that (negative) choice;

--choice # 2 - stop worrying, stop pestering the Queen, wait it out (whatever I was worrying about) and fill my too much time on my hands between Dec 28 & Jan 28 with things to keep busy on, and enjoy the positive benefits of this (positive) choice. I choose to do Choice # 2.

This is what my best friend taught me, the Good Shepherd told us that we have choices (negative vs positive) to make in life, and that each choice has consequences based on that choice that we made. Previous to my friend's instructions, I was totally unaware of this.