By now, your New Year’s buzz is probably wearing off. The children will soon return to school, your vacation is ending (if it has not already), and that resolution to do or be something different in 2019, is 4 days old. Sadly, this means in 26 more days, 25-33% of those resolutions will have failed. And even if we maintain our resolve past January, 90% of New Year’s resolutions are not kept balance of year. It happens to me too… in 2017 I resolved to cycle an average of 75 miles per week, at a moderate pace. I came up short, averaging 70 miles per week, but in 2018 I totaled 5200 miles and 357 hours of cycling! How did I improve to 100 miles or about 7 hours of cardio, each week?
 
Allow me a moment to back track. The American Heart Association recommends we average 2.5 hours of moderate exercise each week. Disabled veterans who struggle with anxiety, and people in stressful careers might want to average a few more. So how does one accomplish this, when schedules get busy and things come up? In 2018, a Veteran Service Organization (VSO) called Project Hero gave me a community of like-minded cyclists. I was also given SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-Bound) cycling goals. And the habit of cycling 2-3 times each week, quickly became part of my lifestyle. The recipe for keeping a resolution, is these 3 parts. 
 
This recipe, and many others, is in The Church and The Community. Invest in yourself, read it, share it with others, and make 2019 better than 2018.