New Year’s Resolution: Already Drying Tzitzis on your Treadmill?

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Every year in the United States, the top three New Year's resolutions are in the realm of health and fitness.

Number one is to exercise more. Number two is to eat healthier. Number three is to lose weight.

So what are the biggest beneficiaries of New Year's resolutions?

So it's not the tens of millions of people who make them.

It's the gyms and the companies selling ellipticals and treadmills

and the people selling those $5 diet cookies

who've seen enormous spike in sales and memberships

during the first week of January.

However, statistics show that by February 1st

about 90% of the gyms new members have stopped coming.

And ellipticals and the treadmills they were purchased

are not being used as drawing racks with scissors and other clothing.

And those $5 diet cookies are languishing all the way back in the freezer

waiting to be rescued by Arab Paisach.

And have been replaced by delicious cakes and cookies.

But there are 10% of people who succeed in keeping their New Year's resolutions.

So what's the difference between the 10% who succeed and the 90% who fail?

Are they programmed differently? Do they have special advantages?

So the truth is the 10% also fail.

They slip up, they miss workouts, they eat things they shouldn't.

The difference is that the 10% they get up off the floor and they start again.

The 90% of them miss a week at the gym, they say,

I guess this isn't the year.

But there's always next year.

But the 10% of them miss a week, they say,

I'm not going to throw in the towel because I had a cimbra

or because I wasn't careful over a three day on top.

They pull themselves together and they try again.

In Parshas Vahee, Yakov and Vinu compared the Sunday Huda to a lion.

He said, Guru Arya Yudha, then Yakov said,

Kararavatsk Arya, he crashed and he rested like a lion,

Miyikamenu, who can rouse him?

So what's Yakov's message over here?

So the Katskareva says something so powerful.

Yudha is not only a lion when he stands upright,

when everything is going smoothly.

But Kararavats, even when he falls, even when he makes mistakes,

Kararia is still a lion.

Yudha said, Miyikamenu, when I fall, who will pick me up?

Nobody will, I will pick myself up, I will dig deeper,

I will gather in his strength and get back on track.

Yudha's greatness is his resolve, his tenacity,

his drive, the pick himself up,

and return to his relentless pursuit of greatness.

When the brothers were contemplating

if they should sell Yusuf in the slavery,

Yudha made a mistake.

You could have stopped him, he had veto power.

But he crashed to the ground and he failed to show leadership.

But then he redeemed himself.

It was Yudha who stood up to the vizor of Egypt

to rescue his brother.

Yudha made a terrible mistake with Tomah.

But he didn't run away and hide in the basement.

He didn't let his press secretary take all the tough questions.

He stood up to the world like a lion and he said,

Sot come in many.

I am wrong, she is right.

Being a lion is not just when you're in top of the world,

when things are going great.

Being a lion means, even when you're falling short on your resolutions,

even when you're down in the dumps,

you still believe there's a lion in you waiting to roar.

Some nights you look in the mirror and you say,

today I dropped a ball.

I didn't get it done.

But I will not be discouraged.

I have the Yuhuda genemy.

I want to allow today's failure to dissuade me for my goals.

I will begin again tomorrow with greater tenacity, with more resolve.

As Fasema says,

that we'll call Yuhudha from the word Yuhudha.

Because embedded inside every Jew is the DNA of Yuhudha.

Yuhudha is our model of inspiration.

Even when we mess up, we have the inner strength to elevate ourselves.

We have the will to stand back up and roar again.

That is the strength and the conviction that Yuhudha is still in us.

The Shakhonara who begins with the words is Gaba Kari.

Strengthen yourself like a lion.

Every morning you are reminded of the meat of Yuhudha.

Every day you wake up with the belief that you are a lion.

Not only when everything is going well,

even if you failed yesterday,

even if you finished the entire chocolate cake last night.

You can start again.

Even if you hit a bump in the road,

even if you missed your share yesterday,

believe that you can begin anew.

Even if you were knocked down, it's not over.

Like Yuhudha, you have within you the will and the strength to begin again.

Because success isn't about never falling.

It's about refusing to stay down.

And now we know.

Have a wonderful day.

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