When dealing with medical challenges, New Year’s resolutions can help you become a Healthy Survivor. Firm decisions to do—or not do—something from now on helps motivate you to stick to a plan that challenges you in some way. (You don’t resolve to do things that come naturally, right?)
Here’s the problem: Following through on resolutions tends to feel uncomfortably restrictive. Maybe you’ll feel different about resolutions after exploring the origin of the word.
“Resolution” is derived from the late Middle English Latin “resolvere,” which means “loosen” or “release.” That’s the same root as for “resolve,” as in solve a problem. In effect, resolutions loosen your connection to avoidable problems, even releasing you from the risk of some preventable problems. Put another way, resolutions increase the chance of solving problems or, better yet, preventing problems—if you follow them.
Just as our laws make us free in our democracy, your self-designed and self-imposed rules make you free to live your best life. They empower you by narrowing the gap between the actions you believe are in your best interest and the actions you take. In the knowledge-hope-action approach to Healthy Survivorship, resolutions help with the action part.
Of course, you don’t have to wait for New Year’s to make resolutions. Every day can be a new beginning. That said, there’s something uniquely inviting and energizing about the blank first page of the 2020 calendar. For all you Healthy Survivors out there, here’s to New Year’s resolutions! Cheers!
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