Resolutions are just goals people make which typically aren’t completed or kept. They tend to be spur of the moment things decided on just before a new year begins, but that are not followed up on during the new year.

So instead of making a resolution you just aren’t going to keep, make a promise to yourself.

Promises are things that aren’t supposed to be broken. You never promise something you can’t deliver on later.

So instead of resolving to lose weight this year, or lose a certain number of pounds, promise yourself that you will adjust to a healthier lifestyle, with better eating habits, even if is something as simple as drinking only water, and more time for walking or running or Zumba or kickboxing or swimming, something that will get you more active. Then the weight loss will come along as your body adjusts to your new lifestyle.

Instead of resolving to take a cold turkey approach to quitting smoking or dipping, promise yourself to smoke one less cigarette a day for each week or one less dip a day. At the end of each week, drop another cigarette or dip a day. Eventually you will be down to none. No, it still won’t be easy, nothing ever is, but it is more obtainable as a gradual decline than an overnight attempt.

There are options to make more obtainable promises, than random resolutions, for just about any goal one wishes to reach. And then if the goal is reached before the end of the year, you can go ahead and make a new promise to yourself instead of waiting until the next new year to come up with a new goal.

And don’t bite off more than you can chew. If you can handle two or three promises at a time, that is great. But if you know that making three promises and keeping them is too much to ask, then only make one or two promises. Then once those promises are kept, add another one.

If you have a slip-up one day and have an extra cigarette or a bottle of soda, don’t throw away your promise. Just start again the next day from where you left off, and keep plugging along until you reach your goal.

Those resolutions don’t have to loom over your head like a rain cloud. Make promises that soar over you like a rainbow, and then find the end of that rainbow.

Wendy Byerly Wood is the associate editor of The Mount Airy News. She can be reached at wbyerly-wood@heartlandpublications.com or at 719-1923.