Why Only 8% Will Achieve Their New Year Resolutions

Here we are, three weeks into the New Year, and more than likely (hopefully) still holding firm to our New Year Resolutions.  If you’re anything like me, getting my fit and lean body back is my resolution of the year… but according to Forbes, only 8% of people achieve their New Year Resolutions… which kind of makes me feel less bad that this was my resolution last year and here we are again, in a new year, and still not at my goal weight.

But this year is going to be different for you and me.  (I say with my super serious, motivational voice as I stare myself down in the mirror).

See, fitness and I have a love/hate relationship.  Who else can relate? Can I get a raise of hands in the comments, please?  I know I’m not alone in this.

My family blessed me with genes that are, let’s just say, not the skinny ones. So, maintaining a fit frame has never come easily nor naturally to me.

I’ve allowed myself to fluctuate up and down from fit to… not fit, MULTIPLE times because I am the type of person who is either all in or all OUT in every aspect of my life.

I am incapable of dipping my toe into anything.  Either we are DOING this thing, or we aren’t.

Just to set the stage here, my last fitness kick I decided I was going to compete in a fitness competition… and I placed fifth.  I swore to myself then that I was a changed woman, never to go back to the flab-side, and would maintain my healthy body and lifestyle forever and ever because THIS IS THE NEW NORMAL ME.

HAAAAAAH.

God had another plan for me and He gave me the ultimate test by throwing “life” hard in my face to see if I would be strong enough to stick to the healthy habits through the highest stress time of my life, budded right up against grieving the loss of my favorite person in the world (RIP Grammy).

All that to say, with all of last year’s good intentions of weight loss, I didn’t have the energy to get up and make a change because I needed to FEEL what I was going through and there wasn’t energy left for anything else…

I share this because I learned an important lesson in all of this last year, and that was to be unapologetic about who you are and where you’re at.  I, up until last year, did SO many things for appearances… because I cared how OTHER people saw me.  My driving force wasn’t coming from within but from the perception of everyone else.  BIG. MISTAKE.

Learning to be okay with not being okay, being fine with not looking what I viewed as my “finest,” being confident in my curviness because I know that I made this choice. I have the power to change my choices, and I consciously decided not to, and that is okay, because I am beautiful REGARDLESS.

What’s so beautiful about owning who you are at every stage is that NOW, THIS year, instead of resolving to change my body because of my “dislike” of how I look, I am resolving to change my body because of my LOVE for myself.

I love myself because THIS body, has endured a lot of life-lessons-learned, pain and heartache, and has ACTUALLY come out WAY stronger than the person that was on stage during that fitness competition.

With that love, I am able to enjoy this process, not dread going because I “hate” what I see, but feel EXCITED to do something for me.  It’s about loving and appreciating this vessel of yours through all of its seasons as they shift.

NOTHING great has ever resulted from “hate” as its motivation…. So if weight loss is the goal, I challenge you to ask yourself, “why am I doing this?

I believe it’s so important to give ourselves some grace and be at ease with the person we are RIGHT now… because regardless of the number on the scale, the ironic thing is you are most attractive when you don’t care about who you are attracting.

So, what are the takeaways from today?

  1. If you want to make sure you’re not in the 92% who don’t achieve their resolutions, assess your “why” and if it’s not coming from a positive place, shift the goal or shift your motivation.
  2. Strive to love and appreciate who you are right now, regardless of who you want to become by 2020.
  3. Realize that if you’ve failed in the past, you’re just one step closer to success…. You see, success and failure are on the SAME road…. Success is just further down that road. You got this!!

8 comments

  • I absolutely LOVED this!!! One hundred percent true!!!! ????????

  • Thank you for sharing your journey! Life is a team sport. I am ? person in or out too. Learning to seek balance. I love that you have figured this out early in life. Briana I love watching you fly! I keep your family in my prayers. You all were at the beginning of my transformation. I keep you in my heart and prayers. Blessings and Love on your journey ❤️ Rochelle Forrest Hankins

  • Yes girl!!! I needed to read this! ??

  • SOO loved this post! “fitness and I have a love/hate relationship” – same here, Chica! And I used to be so hard on myself when I would go to the gym 3xweek 2 weeks in a row then drop off a week later, then just getting frustrated at “starting over again” but I’ve realized it’s the wrong way to look at everything. I just need to pick up where I left off.

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