New Year's Resolutions (Pass the Coffee)

It's early 2012-- new promises, new goals-- a whole new year to a better you!

I write that, laughing, thinking of one year Mike made a list of new year's resolutions that were all encompassing....impossible to maintain on his busy schedule.

They included things like:
Drink less coffee
Leave enough time to walk to work (with guilt, sometimes he resorted to a cab when running really late)
Get more exercise
Spend more time with family
Eat to 80%
Read more fiction
Get more sleep

I wish I could remember the other ones.  He wrote them down, with enthusiasm.  He shared them, hoping that would help him stick with it.  What Mike needed was simply more time in the day.  But what struck me was that if he reduced his coffee intake, there was no chance he'd achieve the other resolutions!  If anything, he had to step up that caffeine to have a hope of reaching the other lofty goals!  (really, I am kidding....;).  He had these expectations, on top of an incredibly busy work-life.  Unfortunately, 'work less' was not something he could add to the list-- at least not at that point in his training.

After a bit of time had passed, we laughed together at the impossibility of the list... especially fuelled by less coffee (headache, grumpy, tired...).  Mike always wanted to be home sooner and more often-- doing stuff he enjoyed outside of work.  But his drive to work hard in a field he loved was a tough balancing act.

Maybe you're in the process of crafting your resolution(s) for this year.  Good luck!  Think of Mike-- if you make the list really long, be sure to ADD COFFEE.