Vegging out with new year resolution

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO JACK: It's going to be a good year. How do I know this? Simple. I have a new year’s resolution.

NEW YEAR: Jack McGovern ponders resolutions. . Picture: Scottie Simmonds

IT'S going to be a good year.

How do I know this? Simple. I have a new year's resolution. And new year's resolutions, as we all know - if followed - make us feel pretty good after 365 days of hard work.

You may mock my optimism. You may mock my confidence. Heck, you may even mock my indisputable knowledge of the fact I will finish 2013 with a detoxified liver, a rocking bod and probably seven or eight girlfriends to go with it all.

But when I sat down and told myself - in no uncertain terms - to eat better in 2013, exercise more in 2013 and do whatever other cliched life-changing activities I could come up with in 2013, I feel I really turned a corner.

Oh, how little I knew.

Even so, I was ready for a healthier me. I was ready for a more disciplined me. And despite studies showing fewer than 38% of people actually saw their ambitions through to the end of January, I was ready for an "I'm so much stronger than that" me.

I repeat: how little I knew.

New Year's Day was perfect: I went for a run; I drank a cup of green tea; and even when I ventured into the realms of bad health habits, at least the pizza I ordered was vegetarian.

I had never ordered vegetarian pizza, so it was clear I'd followed through with my bold resolution.

Then came January 2.

How things can change.

This time on January 1, I was tying up my shoelaces for a jog, sipping on more antioxidants than you could poke a tea bag at and contemplating how I could make takeaway dinner as healthy as possible. Admittedly, pizza probably wasn't my best effort.

Fast forward a few hours and those jogging shoes had been"misplaced", green tea had been swapped for soft drink and I was contemplating how I could make takeaway dinner as unhealthy as possible. When you imagine four Big Macs with chips and ice cream on the side, suddenly vegetarian pizza doesn't look all that bad.

The harsh truth is this: I couldn't last a couple of days with my little resolution.

Before you start shaking your heads at me, how did YOU go?

How many of you planned to spend more time with the family, only to remember you had that job of yours? A few, I'd say. How many of you planned to stay out of the sun, only to remember how much you loved sunbaking? A few, I'd say. And how many of you planned to simply be better people, only to remember it was such hard work? Perhaps that was only me…

Either way, we can't escape the truth. As a people, we just aren't very good at keeping these little promises to ourselves.

In the same study that showed only 38% made it through the first month, it was also revealed fewer than 8% made it to the 12th. If that's not a telling statistic, I don't know what is.

Still, I think it's going to be a good year. I've had 20 years without resolutions and they've turned out all right.

That said, I still haven't eaten meat in 2013.

And vegetarian pizza can only stay tasty for so long.

Originally published as Vegging out with new year resolution