Make a change

New Year's resolutions are made to be broken - or so it seems.

We imagine we are among the majority of Alas- kans who take longer coming up with resolutions than honoring their lists of well-intended goals. We're not sure why this is true, but it seems to be so.

Perhaps it's a failure to span the distance between our short and long-term goals that creates this par- adox between our good intentions and shabby fol- low though.

For example, we'd all like our cloths to fit bet- ter. Right? But that desire for a more svelte figure isn't the focus when our taste buds start craving tasty glazed treats from our favorite downtown donut shop. And so we eat the donut and buy big- ger pants instead of connecting the dots between our short- and long-term goals.

Or, maybe the trouble is our lists are too ambi- tious to be realistic. Change is hard, but it is pos- sible.

For 2012, we challenge readers to pick one thing and make a change.

Maybe you want your jeans to fit better. So pick that as your thing and follow through. Maybe you want to switch from regular soda to diet, or from soda to water. There's a long list of benefits to drinking water over soda, health and economic benefits to name two.

But the secondary health and economic benefits are not the point as much as the act of following through. Setting a goal and meeting it is how we change what doesn't work.

Writing this, we are reminded of a friend dating a man she says is bad for her. Or, another friend whose weight is out of control and can no longer do the work his former employer required. We challenge them to make one change.

An off-the-cuff definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again and expecting dif- ferent results.

When life seems hopeless and you feel helpless, make a change, however small. There are many things that even as adults are beyond control, but many things aren't. Instead of complaining and waiting for someone else to remedy our woes, pick something attainable get after it.

It's better than spending one more second bemoaning the struggling economy, housing crash or our elected officials. Complaints are like junk food, just something for your mouth to do. There are no action items in complaints. Make a change instead.

Start small. Maybe just put the cart back at the grocery store because your kid is watching. Or slow down and back off that slow driver instead of swearing and waggling your middle finger because he or she is slowing your roll. Whatever it is, make a change.

What will you change?