Tighter pants usually accompany the end-of-the-year holiday celebrations that help guide people’s coveted vow for a new and brighter year — the New Year’s resolution. For Arvada residents, that includes issues of a waistline shrunk or gained, conversations with God, reduction of clutter and even abandoning the whole idea of making a resolution in the first place.
“I want to lose weight,” Rita Schnidt said.
Schnidt calls herself a yo-yo dieter, a person who goes from one diet program to another. She wants to get back into her fun-in-the-sun, shorts-wearing body. A resolution, she says, is not far-fetched as she’s accomplished it before.
Aside from being able to wear smaller clothes, Schnidt said losing weight is important.
“The reason I have to take weight off and stay healthy is because I’m a diabetic. It’s really important even though I struggle with keeping weight off. It’s for health reasons.”
Other Arvada residents go about making their weight resolutions as father and son.
“I want to lose 10 pounds,” Gordon Line said.
“And I want to gain 10 pounds,” said Dennis Line, Gordon’s son.
They both plan on hitting the gym in the new year to lose and gain their desired weight. The thought of doing that, however, spurred Gordon Line to think of a possible a deterrent, his age. This concern led to a resolution he feels is more important.
“First, I need to make it to 73 so I can continue to enjoy retirement,” said Gordon Line, who also had another important resolution.
He also added, “I need to get my Lexus washed. That’s my resolution. It’s filthy.”
His son quipped, “The New Year’s coming quick. You don’t have much time.”
Janice Madsen, resident and shop owner, looks to her spirituality to guide her resolution decision-making process.
“I usually pray and follow what God has to say,” Madsen said.
Madsen said she will find one person who has a need that she can help with and she will assist that person. Madsen also said she usually accomplishes her resolutions because they come from God’s guidance.
For resident and former teacher Jane Schnabel, a cluttered room sparked her resolution decision. Schnabel said needs to get rid of stuff she’s collected as a teacher for more than 20 years. Although Schnabel admits that she “blows off” most of her resolutions a few months into the year, she feels this resolution is particularly important.
“This year I have to. For my own mental health, I have to stick by this resolution,” Schnabel said.
Schnidt has similar sentiments about blowing off her resolutions.
“See what happens is, you say, ‘I’ve lost the weight. I can go back to eating again.’ That’s wrong; you can’t.”
Many residents avoid resolutions because of the likelihood of failure.
“Ninety-nine percent of them aren’t followed anyway,” said Fred Yates, Arvada resident and business owner for 25 years. “Within a month everyone forgets it. So I don’t even put myself through the agony.”
Yates doesn’t go though the formality of making a resolution but he does have one goal.
“I try to exist every year,” he said.
Yates is referring to both his Arvada business and himself.
“You can’t have one without the other,” he pointed out.
Arvada resident Kristan Wheeler said she and her husband, Rob, don’t make resolutions because they are two “cynical lawyers.” Rather, they discuss what they want to achieve in the upcoming year.
“The way I feel about resolutions is they set you up for failure,” Wheeler said. “You set up an expectation of yourself that isn’t realistic. So if you break it, you kind of just give up on it.”
Resident Tim Sloan believes resolutions hinder accomplishments as well and that’s why he doesn’t make one.
“Goals that you set throughout the year usually become longer- lasting,” Sloan observed.
Arvada Community Editor Nicholas Dewart can be reached at 303-279-5541, ext. 244