Tis the Season

Tis the season for people to make their New Year's resolutions.  

According to Wikipedia (a somewhat legit source, right?), people tend to resolve to change an undesired trait or behavior, to accomplish a personal goal, or otherwise improve their life. Wikipedia also cites a 2014 study that revealed 35% of participants who failed to accomplish their resolution admitted they had unrealistic goals, 33% of participants didn't track their progress and 23% forgot about them.  And, one in 10 respondents claimed they made too many resolutions.

So it is with great pride that I announce that my husband and I beat the odds and accomplished our 2019 resolution.  It was easy to track our progress and, since we only had one resolution, it was easy to remain focused. So what was this extraordinary resolution?  To eat at 52 "new to us" restaurants in one calendar year.  I know, I know, this flies in the face of what most people pledge to do - lose weight or workout more.  But, we succeeded and most people fail.  So there.

Early on, we had to establish some guidelines.  This was especially important because I've known my husband for less than 4 years and we each had decades of meals without the other.  The following were our mutually agreed upon ground rules:

• a restaurant where one of us ate at before would count as a "new" one if it had been at least 5 years since that meal
• takeout or delivery would not count under any circumstances
• no chain restaurants, unless it was one not located in our geographic region or was new to it

On December 3rd, we ate at #52.  And, on December 7th, we ate at #53.  What overachievers we are.  We're still at #53 and that's probably where we'll end up unless we squeeze in another new place in the next 6-ish hours.  

Being the math nerd that I am, I'm personally content with staying at 53 - prime number that it is.  And, of course I had to do a full data analysis on our list:

• 21% of our meals were brunch - thanks to husband having most Sundays off this year
• 32% of the meals were Italian or Mexican - obviously we love these cuisines or Philadelphia has an abundance of these restaurants
• 7 of the restaurants were introduced to us through the Tasting Collective, which offers private chef-led dinners.  We're members and it's been a great way to try restaurants we've never been to before.
• only 5 of the restaurants were ones where one of us had eaten at before, more than 5 years ago.
• 35% of the restaurants we agreed that we'd like to go to again, although it's hard to do that when there's a neverending list of new places opening that we want to check out.

So what are my biggest takeaways from this year-long project?  You can eat at 53 new places and still lose weight.  There's a certain level of motivation to achieve the goal when it's something that is a bit of a challenge, yet fun. Philly has an amazing restaurant scene - what a great way to force us not to go to the same places over and over again.

I believe most people probably fail to follow through on their resolutions because it's something they think they should do instead of something they really want to do. 

But that's just my view.  From the 33rd floor.