I need to lose about 60 pounds. Seriously. I haven’t talked about my personal goals because I didn’t think they had any place in my blog but I guess I can let you in. A little. OK, close enough. And weight loss is such a cliché New Year’s Resolution–I didn’t want to buy into it. But the truth is, I could stand to run around the block. A few times.

I also have this husky, Rocky the WonderDog. Rocky’s 9—that’s damn near 70 years old in human years—so he’s slowing down a bit. He started having these tremors and shakes and we were praying he wasn’t going to just drop dead one day. So we took him to the vet and they scared us to death talking about diabetes and ketoacidosis, Cushing’s disease, muscle atrophy—all this stuff that sounded horrible AND horribly expensive. I’m cursing to myself and looking at my wife and we’re trying to figure out how could we look our kids in the eye if something happened to the dog. So the vet runs some tests, takes some blood, charges us $350 and the prognosis is the dog is just old and bored. So while I’m looking for retirement communities for my active senior, the vet suggests more exercise and new scenery and experiences.

So both me and the dog need to move around a little.

I take it to heart: it’s a brand new year, I gotta lose some pounds, my dog needs to get out more. Great! I get up early, find my cross-trainers, got the Rocky theme cued up my playlist and…where…the hell…are…my…headphones?

Goddammit.

I’m funky about a few things, and most of them have apples on them: iPhone, iPad, my Macbook (don’t judge me: they’re just so pretty!) And one of the things I genuinely hate is when people take my headphones. Namely little people. You know who I’m talking about: the ones who eat for free, hike up my electric bill and balk at chores. Those people. I once heard a mother say about her kids, “I can’t have nothing! If I was eating a shit sandwich, they’d want a bite.” I know how she feels: the honey badger takes what she wants and, in this case she took my headphones. Grrr…

But I can’t stop. I really do need to get out. And now the dog is jumping up and down because he wants the walk and I haven’t been able to give him one since I hurt my ankle. I look down and the only headphones I see are pink. Like hot pink. With Hello Kitty on them.

Seriously?

So I’m out with my new leather jacket, 3 days worth of stubble on my face, walking Rocky the WonderDog, bobbing my head to The Roots—looking HARD—with Hello Kitty on my ears. I felt like a damn fool.

But it didn’t matter.

If the goal is important, how you get there doesn’t matter. Things like pride or fear are the things that hold us back. For writers, it’s that inner censor telling us to make it perfect instead of getting it out of our heads and onto the page. For others, it might be the whispers of doubt, the disapproving look of a spouse, or the sly smirk of a friend. Screw them; do what YOU have to do to get it done. A close friend of mine is a single mother of four AND a teacher AND a student AND she gets up at 4:30am to do the Insanity workout. Because the goal is more important to her than hitting the snooze button. Because she wants to be able to do 100 pushups by March. Because there is someone she wants to be and she’s not there yet. So she does what she has to do to get it done.

The theme for January is Be True To You. That’s really what this resolution-making, goal-setting exercise is about: finding our truest selves. Those things you resolve to do reflect the person you truly want to be. It’s not about doing something; it’s about being someone. Someone willing to do whatever it takes to get where you are trying to go. One facet of the person I want to be is about 60 pounds lighter. And if it means you see me outside with those damn Hello Kitty headphones, so be it. You can laugh. I would. But I’m getting it done, aren’t I?

This one’s for you, Leslie. When I grow up, I wanna be just like you!