Weekend America

Listener's New Year's Resolutions

Chris Weeg

JANUARY 3, 2009

What's your New Year's resolution?

(justj0000lie)

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With the new year comes the annual opportunity to put yourself on the line. To set yourself up for improvement, dedication, empowerment. Or to set yourself up for frustration, futility, disappointment. Talking of course about the New Year's Resolution. An annual proclamation of the new you. Easy to declare on New Year's Eve, perhaps a bit trickier as the year wears on. We asked you, our listeners, what you resolved to do this year. Here's what you told us.

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Healthy

Eat only the best chocolate, savoring it more, and eating less! I LOVE Chocolate! Why waste a wonderful delight on horrible taste, texture, or a greasy pallet? When it's wonderful, it is so satisfying only a little is needed! Preferably daily.

JoAnn Akemannchein
St. Paul, Minn.

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As principal of a high school, I am developing a staff-wide weight-loss program that will run from January until Spring Break (early April). We will call our program The Biggest Loser. Each participant will contribute at least $10 and we will work in teams (most likely, by departments). We will do an initial weigh-in, and as the program progresses, we will do bi-weekly weigh-ins to check for progress. At the end of the contest, the team/department that loses the highest percentage of weight will win the pot of money. We're a bunch of fat, unhealthy teachers who need to do something positive for ourselves, get healthier, and have some fun doing it. :)

Tim Roy
Dixon, Ky.

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To get healthy. This doesn't necessarily mean lose weight. It means work an appropriate number of hours, sleep more, eat healthy at home, exercise, give time to my family. As a 29-year-old, I think I'm on the verge of not being able to keep up with my unhealthy habits of eating whatever I want, sleeping little, etc. I also think there's more to life than work - I want to give more of me to people and causes that matter.

Jennifer Handy
Hilmar, Calif.

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Wealthy

To pay off as many bills as possible, including our house if we're lucky enough to sell it and not get into debt again. This means we will need to lead simpler lives, but we're OK with that.

Debi Rapson
Manchester, N.H.

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To get a better job. I survived a serious car accident several years ago which should have killed us (Husband, daughter, self) I'm not physically able to work very long, or to stand for hours. I work in fast food now, and I'm not doing a good job, and I work 2-4 days per week.

Chaya Kostelicki
Kent, Wash.

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I was stuck in a dead end job at a gentlemen's social club on Nob Hill in San Francisco and I HATED it. A local radio station was asking for resolutions that people would state on the air. I called in and told them I wanted a better job. They wished me well and then , I think because I had made a personal public statement about it, I redoubled my job efforts and got the job I had wanted- Park Ranger. When I got the job, I called back into the radio station and told them about it. They were astounded because no one had ever called in with a success story before. Then the radio afternoon was filled with people calling in with the positives that had happened as a result of a resolution.

Joan Cochrane
Sacramento, Calif.

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And Wise

To have fewer sense-of-humor failures. A good part of 2008 I had a hard time being kind and patient with my 4-year-old daughter and the 2 other children I care for. And my dear husband suffered the side effects of my poor tempers as well. I was never violent or abusive but unnecessarily short tempered. It also becomes a vicious circle - I'm in a bad mood because I let myself get mad about something inconsequential and I get upset over little things because I'm in a bad mood and... To a more joyful 2009!

Christina Neitz
Minneapolis, Minn.

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To keep doing all I can to persuade all the media of what I consider the four most important things to do to save the world from Global Warming: The Four "P's":
(1) Provide everyone in the world with Family Planning information and condoms to help cut the population,
(2) Push Public Transportation everywhere,
(3) Push Vegetarian meals for everyone Monday, Wednesday, Friday--to help cut land-use for cattle, etc.,
(4) Plant trees.
I'm 82 years old, so I won't be around too long, but there are people I love who will be around. I want them to have a healthy world to live in.

William Bode
Liberty, N.C.

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This year my resolution is to stay calm in the face of what is happening in the world and our country right now. I also resolve to keep our new president in my thoughts each day as he has to wrestle with all the crises he faces.
I think that this year it is so important to think about what we want for ourselves and our neighbors and try the best way we can to implement it in our community. We are facing grim times in our little county as we have lost hundreds of jobs and businesses are failing. I try to buy here at home and keep our small town alive. But most importantly I feel that all of us have got to be calm and not let fear drag us down. We have to have that bit of hope that brings about change.

Maralee Gerke
Madras, Ore.

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I will give up watching television in 2009.
Each year I choose something to go without for one year. It's only to challenge myself to see if it can be accomplished. It's been pizza, chips, candy, and this year, the addictive xBox.
Forgoing television forces me to spend my time on other things (mostly at night). We have a cluttered basement, I have dormant guitar lessons, there are books to read. If I can produce 300+ positive nights/events/projects in 2009, my life will be better.

Danny Clayton
Milwaukee, Wisc.

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It's not so much a resolution as a state of mind. I resolve to keep making music and art in 2009.

Andy Markley
Sacramento, Calif.

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To drive another year without an accident. I am a professional truck driver and my resolution next year is the same as the years before. To drive accident-free and help the motoring public (families) when possible. I have been driving for 31 years and have logged about 3,900,000 miles. If I can do it one more year I will have 4 million miles of accident free driving. A small note to tell your listeners, PLEASE clean off your tail lights before you drive in the cold winter weather. The tail lights I see might be yours.

Douglas Smith
Red Lion, Penn.

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I'm no longer going to take any crap from the low life punks that inhabit my neighborhood. These people have terrorized my neighborhood for the past 5 years. I have had all of my chickens killed, our cats run over by their stupid hot rods and my chain link fence run into twice. I have had all I can put up with. They have to be put away.

Douglas Kohlberg
Rio Linda, Calif.

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To do an episode of my podcast, Budacast (www.budacast.hu), every week rain or shine. I get into a "Budafunk" living here in Hungary, as does most of the population - especially in the dreary winters.

Drew Leifheit
Budapest, Hungary

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