Happy New Year, ladies and gents and my one reader grabbing a free read while eating a turkey leg at the Kangaroo Crossing. Hope this new year finds you all with high hopes about things that are yet to come and hopefully we can all keep our resolutions.
Resolutions, do we all keep them or are they all forgotten by February? Some of my resolutions for the new year include the all famous go-to of losing some 
extra poundage that seems to keep finding its way to my waistline regardless of how much I eat…which is about the same as it always was. That is probably most of the problem, honestly. Eat the same, get a little older, move a little less and BOOM, five pounds heavier from one year to the next. Add about five or six of those up and a cool 30 pounds is hanging on that never would have been there in my 20s or 30s. I will do my best to give my knees and back a break by shedding as much as I can from all that good table muscle I earned over the last decade or so.
Other resolutions that I have for myself this year is to be even more of a giver than a taker. I give all I can, but I want to give even more. The type of giving I speak of is not necessarily stuff either. Sometimes it is a lot easier giving stuff or money than it is to give our time. I am guilty of this and I want to be better that way, without any effort.
I want to be more of a go-getter and to not procrastinate as much, to be honest. That would probably take care of all of the above resolutions. I want to be a better husband, father, brother, uncle, cousin, friend and co-worker to all the folks I know or have yet to meet. See, I am not setting lofty, unattainable resolutions. I should be doing this anyway, but the New Year just gives me a starting point so that I can look back and see how far I have come in whatever endeavor I will be on at the time.
Obviously, I would like to kick some old habits, one in particular that takes about $3 out of my pocket every single day. Smokeless tobacco ain’t no joke and I am here to tell you to stop it while you are ahead and to never start doing it if you are thinking about it. It is such a crutch and it will not make you a better baseball player…I promise. I have tried to kick this habit several times over the years but never with the zest I should have had for relieving myself of something that is so unhealthy for my body. This year, I want to change that. I feel like I have been blessed to this point and I do not want to push that envelope any further.
Resolutions do not have to be impossible, hard-to-reach goals. They can be just a few small things that can make you healthier physically and mentally. I want all of my relationships to be better and I want a much closer relationship with my Creator. All of these things, as I have written in the past, are not necessarily things and we can all do them better. So, do not set impossible, hard-to-reach goals that you never have the chance of obtaining. Start with the little things and by the time you have gotten a hold of those, the bigger goals will seem much more attainable.
As of this column, baseball (spring sports in general) is just 52 days away and my resolution is to patiently wait and to not lose my mind, which is debatable as to whether or not has already happened, so that I may be on full-go at the first “PLAY BALL” I hear for the 2018 season. Cold weather go away and take this Flu junk with you when you hit the door. Happy New Year, and may 2018 be the best yet!!!
