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Overcast Making New Year’s resolutions — and solutions
Locals talk about their vows for 2010
"To get healthier.”
With that simple resolution for 2010, Long Beach resident Kathleen Lynch-Polchynsky joined countless others worldwide who wipe the slate clean to start anew each Jan. 1.
What’s more, Lynch-Polchynsky joins the ancients in this practice of making reslutions for the New Year. According to InfoPlease.com, which is run by national textbook publisher Pearson Education, the Babylonians were the first to partake in the tradition, noting that the early Christians spent the new year reflecting on past mistakes and resolving to improve oneself.
“I think that it’s a custom that has come down through the years that is a good opportunity for us to reassess where we are and where we want to be,” said Dr. Daniel Temple, a Long Beach psychologist.
Temple cites lossing weight, getting healthier and becoming more financially responsible as the most common resolutions. He added that with the recent economic downturn, many people are also resolving to either go back to school or to get additional training in other areas, “just in case they have to change their field of work,” he said. For Point Lookout resident Donna Pisacano Brown, the new year means learning the value of time. “And learn to take vacation time off from work so I can have some time to incorporate the passions of my heart,” Pisacano Brown said, adding she’d like to put more focus on her life and those she loves and care for.
This year, Long Beach resident Josh Silverman looks to put the past behind him and live with a new gusto. “To forget about 2009 and live every day as if it is my last,” he said when asked about his resolution.
Temple said that in order to succeed, resolvers must prioritize their goals and make them as structured as possible. He stressed that resolutions should become part of a person’s daily to-do list.
“They should also build time each day to think about working on the resolution, in some way, so it becomes a part of their daily habit,” said Temple, whose resolutions are to shed some pounds and improve his financial management skills, both personally and professionally.
