Tag Archives: New Year’s Resolutions

Reser Notes

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Since at least three weeks have passed since I last did one of these posts, this evening I want to rapidly cover a few random topics and then call it a night. I got to save up you see, tomorrow night I got a blog post that I am pretty excited about. Without boring you with a long intro, let’s dive right in.

Student-Athletes Making a Difference: I left the office today a little before 5 p.m. and I drove out to the Watson Children’s Shelter, a local facility where disadvantaged youth are given a place to stay. You see, our back-to-back Big Sky Conference champion Griz basketball team not only dominates on the court but in the community as well. Each Tuesday this month they will complete a community service exercise and today they were putting smiles on the faces of children who really need some joy in their lives.

I went out to the shelter and covered the service of our team. Basketball staff members Kurt Paulson and Joe Petschl brought pizza for everyone as the student-athletes and the children sat in the dining room together and shared a meal and lots of laughs. I sat back and admired the scene as our student-athletes naturally made those kids feel so special. After dinner, the players and kids went out to the play area and continued to connect and have fun. I don’t think there is anything that can end a day better than witnessing something like that.

Members of the Griz basketball team who volunteered at the Watson Children's Center tonight.

Members of the Griz basketball team who volunteered at the Watson Children’s Center tonight.

Florida State vs. Auburn an Instant Classic? No Way!: I really enjoyed watching last night’s BCS National Championship. The game was played down to the wire in the best college football venue in the nation. It was a good game, no doubt. But it wasn’t a classic. In my blog post from Sunday night I said a classic must be an extraordinary game but the Seminole-Tiger game wasn’t. If the game went to overtime maybe it would have been. Or if Auburn scored on the final lateral-filled play* I might classify it that way. Or if the teams would have produced more of a high scoring shootout I could be talking classic. Or if it was an exciting game for all four quarters I might concede. But last night simply did not deliver on any of these.

But let’s not kid ourselves here. The 2014 BCS National Championship had its work cut out for it even before the game kicked off. Even though it was the last national championship game of the BCS era, the nation did not get up for it. I had never seen a less hyped championship game than this one, but for good reason though. It simply lacked a solid storyline. You had an ACC Florida State team that played a weak schedule competing against an Auburn team that had a loss on its record and that almost got beat by Washington State. Many people fell into the typical social media fueled emotional trap and called the game an instant classic. Nah.

Encourage Rather Than Scorn: My friend and fitness extraordinaire Saskia posted a New Year’s Day photo on Instagram asking regular gym goers to have tolerance, patience, and compassion for the new people walking through the facility doors as they begin their resolutions of working out and living a healthier life. While it is natural to become a bit peeved at the suddenly cramped gym quarters and while it is a bit too easy to look down on people we might not think will last, Saskia reminds us to think back when we were in that position and to have some empathy.

I agree 100%. So many of these people are really putting themselves out there. They are trying to make a positive change in their lives. What sense does it make to mock and shun them? No doubt most of these people are scared, intimidated, and a little lost when they first hit that gym floor. We need to do all we can to welcome them and encourage them. After all, we should all have a desire to see others succeed. If not, we probably live shallow and depressing lives and are by no means better than the new membership rookie we are snickering at because he is struggling to work a machine. Make a positive difference.

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With the holidays over, this first full week can kind of drag on so take to hear that you are 40% through it already! Have a great night and you will hear from me tomorrow. Don’t Blink.

To Disclose or Not to Disclose Resolutions

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The new year has arrived and with it the multitudes of people who boast about their resolutions. Social media has made it way too hard for most to have a “personal new year’s resolution” where one simply executes their annual improvement plan without any fanfare or Facebook statuses.

However, I am not here to hate on those people at all. In fact, I pretty much take my hat off to those brave enough to broadcast their resolutions electronically to everyone from their family to their best buds to their intramural teammates to their co-workers to their old high school/college classmates etc. etc. I don’t know what better motivation there is to succeed at a New Year’s resolution than telling your 1,297 people on your Facebook friend list what you plan to do. Let’s face it, if you have the guts to tell everyone you know that you plan to lose 30 pounds, you better do it.

That is why I almost went along with the trend and dedicated tonight’s blog post to detailing my 2013 New Year’s resolutions. However, after much scrutinizing I decided to keep them personal. Believe me, I am not going public because I am fearful that I won’t accomplish my goals because I WILL. Instead, I just much rather have people notice the changes in me when I reach my goals rather than telling them about it before I even begin. I don’t need the praise of my peers but if I do get it I am going to make sure it is after I actually accomplish something rather than getting the empty round of applause that accompanies the act of simply declaring my intentions.

With that said, I hope that everyone has at least a couple of resolutions for 2013. Yesterday I was going through my Twitter feed and I saw someone tweet something along the lines of this: “We shouldn’t need to make New Year’s resolutions because we should already be doing the right thing on a daily basis.” Even if there was a person in this world who lived out perfect days on a daily basis, he/she could still find something to improve upon. If he/she already ran 12 miles each morning, he/she could run 14 miles each morning. If he/she had 4 doctorate degrees, he/she could get 5 doctorate degrees. If he/she read 300 books a year, he/she could read 310 books a year. You get the point? There is absolute no ceiling for self-improvement. We can always challenge ourselves, we can always push our limits, we can always get better. Every single one of us has room to grow and the start of a new year is a perfect time to better ourselves.

As I mentioned last night, take it one day at a time. Don’t overwhelm yourself by looking too far ahead. Also, don’t be afraid. Sometimes making a big change and sometimes the channels you need to go through to make that change can be intimidating. Just tell yourself that the end result will be worth it. I always observe the new people who come into the gym for the first time once January 1 hits. Some of them look so scared and out of place…DON’T BE! You made a huge step by actually showing up! Now just go all-in for the next hour and a half and don’t think about anything or anyone else. Do you. This applies not only to working out but it also applies to rekindling a strained relationship, eating better, becoming a better person, spending less money, or watching less television. Simply jump right into it, immerse yourself in the goal, take it one day at a time, and don’t look back.

What a remarkable gift we all have right in front of us with 2013! A fresh new year with limitless possibilities. Let’s all get better and make it the best year ever. Don’t Blink