I hate New Year's resolutions. Every year it's the same deal. There are the obligatory resolutions: losing weight, getting in shape, quitting smoking, being nicer, etc. Nobody really ever sticks to them.  It's just like being set up for failure. Every year I make them (it's usually the same one) and by mid-February they are long since forgotten.

On Jan. 1, I always go back on the diet. It does usually last a few days, until something delicious crosses my path and then it's over. Just as easy as it's made, it is broken. The problem is really this: I am such a stubborn person that I must do everything on my own terms. Just because it's January 1 doesn't mean that I am in the mood to start my diet or new exercise routine or whatever the resolution may be. I will do it when I am good and ready.

Case in point: Two years ago, I decided to give up smoking. I had been telling everyone for close to two years before that it was time to quit. But the months came and went and I was still puffing away. The problem was that I liked to smoke. It was stress reliever, a comfort, a social function and one of my favorite pastimes. I never even tried to quit smoking. Then something happened. It wasn't cancer or some great big scare or life altering experience. It was my son. He just started kindergarten and he was so sweet and innocent. He came home from school one day and asked me point blank, "Do you smoke Mommy?"  I couldn't lie but I also didn't want to tell the truth. "Why do you ask?" I said.

My son came home from school that day armed with information on the harmful effects of smoking. I couldn't even look my five year old in the face and give him a straight answer. That encounter got me thinking. And it prompted me to finally take the steps I said I would for many years before. It wasn't a New Year's resolution, but it was a resolution just the same (except it was on my terms).

So I have to commend all the people I know see filling up my gym, or buying healthy snacks at the supermarket. They are really making an effort to better themselves for the new year. But just because the calendar says January 1, doesn't mean it's the right time for you to make a change. That has to come from within, not because of a date. When you feel the need to get off the couch and go for a walk, just do it. You need to be the one to say no to the cheesecake, not because a calendar told you it was time.

I hope everyone does make a change for the better in 2011. My New Year's resolutions (aside from the diet) are to reconnect with some of my old friends, to try to be less stubborn and more forgiving and to start training for that marathon I said I would run "someday." There's no time like the present!