Perhaps the simplest New Year’s resolution to honor is vowing not to make a New Year’s resolution. Yet, pessimism is too rampant in our beleaguered world. Let us then consider making a New Year’s resolution one need not honor—or endeavor to honor—every day. A resolution, when honored, however intermittently, will produce short-term and long-term benefits for not merely the practitioner. What would constitute such a manageable and salubrious New Year’s resolution?
Altruistic exercise.
What is this, you ask? It is a fair question, for I, too, am new to the concept. Nonetheless, I will endeavor to expound upon it (knowledge not being a prerequisite for pontificating on any subject during our cacophonic age).
From pursuits literally ranging from nearly A to Z (aerobics to yoga), we are pilloried ad nauseum with exhortations and advice from a phalanx of interested parties—physicians, insurance companies, New Age gurus, internet hucksters, etc.—aimed at inspiring and/or guilting our sorry selves to get off the couch and get in some exercise. The obvious physical benefits of traditional exercise abound, and, for the obdurate among us, these reasons are exhaustively enumerated and expounded in the hopes we will submit to being healthier, if not better, people. Indeed, such messaging is often geared toward tempting a recipient’s vanity and other lesser motivations.
Hence, the fact remains that just because you can have a smaller bottom doesn’t mean you won’t bottom out, for human beings are more than just the sum of our body parts. The mind and soul need tending, too. Yes, physical exercise has helpful and healthful effects on one’s body and mind. But the drudgery of mere physical exertion can be one of the main reasons people abandon their New Year’s resolutions’ slated exercise regimen.
One of the ways in which this can be prevented is by augmenting traditional exercise with “practical exercise”: specifically, by incorporating a personal task or chore you need to accomplish within the exercise regimen. This, of course, complements the practical physical benefits by enhancing the mental aspects of the exercise in question.
People like to see progress. While exercise changes one’s physique, it takes time. To keep the mind invested, it is helpful if the exercise accomplishes a chore or task that one can see coming to fruition, which incentivizes the practitioner to continue to exercise to complete it. Consequently, the exercise in question provides physical benefits, the completion of the chore or task, and an abiding sense of accomplishment. In this way, body and mind are engaged and enhanced by the exercise.
Still, there is more that can be performed for the sake of the soul. Not only can there be added to traditional physical exertion practical exercises, personal chores, or tasks to be accomplished; one can incorporate a deed to perform for someone else. I like to think of this as altruistic exercise.
Not only does such exercise have all the benefits of practical exercise, but its patent moral dimension of helping others is enriching for one’s soul, for the deed’s recipient, and for society as a whole. And, in all honesty, there is an added inducement to persist in one’s exercise and finish the deed, lest one be seen in an unfavorable light—even if only in one’s own eyes (should the deed be performed anonymously).
Consider these real-world examples of each type of exercise:
- Traditional exercise would have a person work on strength and conditioning with, perhaps, a combination of aerobics and/or weights.
- Practical exercise would incorporate shoveling snow off your driveway.
- Altruistic exercise would incorporate shoveling snow off your neighbor’s driveway.
In the above examples, altruistic exercise would increase the regimen’s time span, since you would also likely have to shovel your own driveway as well. For those of you who live in warmer climes, in the above example, you could substitute landscaping or gardening. The possibilities for altruistic exercise are only limited by one’s imagination and eagerness to help others.
Altruistic exercise is a rewarding and sustainable New Year’s resolution for those looking to improve their health, happiness, and helpfulness. And, if one thinks about it, engaging in altruistic exercise is a nice way to help make America great and good again.
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An American Greatness contributor, the Hon. Thaddeus G. McCotter (M.C., Ret.) served Michigan’s 11th Congressional district from 2003 to 2012. He served as Chair of the Republican House Policy Committee and as a member of the Financial Services, Joint Economic, Budget, Small Business, and International Relations Committees. Not a lobbyist, he is also a contributor to Chronicles, a frequent public speaker and moderator for public policy seminars, and a co-host of “John Batchelor: Eye on the World” on CBS radio, among sundry media appearances.
I spent over a half of a century in gyms exercising so much that I have found it difficult to drive home. I will always exercise. It extends life. It is mostly uninteresting, boring and often scary but everyone should do it. It tests motivation and determination. However in America where there is no shortage of calories - it is almost impossible to exercise enough to lose weight unless you are a lumberjack working overtime. Eighty percept of weight control is what you eat and how much you eat. If people don’t gain weight around the Holiday Season they need to see a doctor. Something has to be wrong. This is the only time of the year that I take a break.