Hovick: Memo to Myself; It’s Not Too Late to Make a Difference in 2011

Ho, Ho, Ho Merry Christmas! 

Oops, that was last week. It was a Merry Christmas weekend for the Kansas City Chiefs – they have one more game left in the regular season but they’ll celebrate 2011 by being in the playoffs. 

So the Chiefs made a major change in 2010. What about the rest of us in Kansas City?

What are we going to do to better ourselves in 2011?

Are we going to make a change or a resolution?

I went online to look up some of the top resolutions and of those, these are my top three to share with KC Confidential peeps:

1. Spend more time with family and friends

We spend time with our families, who oftentimes are people we otherwise might not choose to hang with. We’re forced into those relationships, so like it or not, it can be a very bumpy road that we travel. Just ask my wife’s family. They put up with me on a have-to basis. You should have seen some of the looks I got from my brother-in-law when I gave his son five nerf guns and 100 small nerf bullets for Christmas. I know he is still lamenting the day my wife said “I do." 

Our time is valuable so we should share it  with people who mean the most to us.

I live more than 1,500 miles from my Mom and my sister, so I call them often and do my best to visit twice a year to spend quality time with them. My grown daughter lives in New York City. She spends a little time with me when she visits KC, but I’m not as hip and cool as her friends.

    So this resolution is one I work at all the time. 
    Family and friends are important to me.
    I work crazy hours so I try to have quality time with the people I care for most.

I know some workaholics who ought to take a look at what they are missing at home.

2. Get Fit, Lose Weight  

This is a resolution I totally agree with. In 2010, I set a goal to ride 2,000 miles between my touring bike outside and my indoor exercise bike to lose a few pounds. I was doing great and meeting my goal but the weight wasn’t coming off. So I went to lunch with a friend (see quality time above) and he told me I needed to eat more fruit to get full.

"What a bunch of crap," I told his skinny ass.

I prefer my apples dipped in caramel, so I upped my miles per month and finished at 2,610 miles for 2010.

I dropped seven tough pounds in the process and continued eating my dipped apples and drinking beer.

Everything in moderation, right? But no way am I giving up all of my vices. I’m not saying I’m a lush but I do tend to tip a few as needed.

3. Quit Smoking

I do not smoke. Never did, so I have no idea how hard it is to quit but I know people who have and then quit.

My Mom quit after my Dad died 22 years ago. Mom smoked two packs a day for more than 30 years. Mom is 81 now and has to have oxygen 24/7 to help her breathe. My brother-in-law lost a kidney a few years ago. He has one kidney left and after 40 years of two packs a day he quit smoking. He just decided it was time to stop.

No pills no patches no excuses. He quit cold turkey. He has three wonderful grandchildren he adores and wants to be around to watch them grow. I’m very proud of him.

Sure, it’s easy for me to preach about it, I don’t have the habit to kick.

I have other family and friends who smoke and wish they would stop. These are people who know the long-term risks from the daily damage cigarettes do to their bodies.

The expense of smoking also amazes me. People drop $7 to $10 a day on cigarettes. That’s more than $2,500 a year. My wife and I spent less than that on an all-inclusive trip to Jamaica last year. Okay, we had free air fare but the resort package was $2,500 and we had all the food, fun and alcohol we could handle.

So here is my challenge/resolution for 2011:

Hearne has almost 5,000 friends on Facebook. If each friend picked someone they love who smokes and became their quit Ninja, just think of the impact and the number of lives we could change/save.

I mean, get in their face, be relentless, do whatever it takes to make them quit.

One lung at a time. If each of us get one person to quit we will make a huge difference.

Think of the life you change/save by helping someone quit smoking,  think as giving them the gift of many more Happy New Years.