Naylor: The 365 soft
This time last year, we had an editorial meeting where the staff talked about their personal New Year’s resolutions. For me, it was to get in better shape — in both mind and body — and I decided that taking on the trendy 75 HARD challenge would be my way to get there.
For those of you unfamiliar, the 75 HARD is a 75-day commitment that involves adhering to a structured diet, doing two workouts, drinking a gallon of water and reading 10 pages from an inspirational book every single day throughout that period. If you cheat one day, you have to start all over again.
Now, I’m a social creature — if everyone else around me is having a good time, I’m quick to join. My colleagues know this well, and we were all equally humored by my lofty ambitions, which feels even funnier to say, given we live in a place where Olympians are raised. Heck, our sports and outdoors reporter Ryan Sederquist lives each day with this sort of discipline and thinks nothing of it. He’s built like Terminator but carries himself like a humble Ned Flanders. Love the guy, but we are not the same.
Instead, this story goes much like so many other New Year’s resolutions, and my 75 HARD pretty quickly became a “75 soft.” I had one cheat day in January, about four in February, and by the time it was St. Patrick’s Day (the day that I would have completed the challenge originally), well, let’s just say my Irish side was showing. From then on, regular Sean was back to doing regular Sean things.
… Except, not completely. Results will show that I did improve in some ways that lasted long past the 75-day window. Today, I am more discerning about what I eat, how often I move, my hydration levels and — in a career where words have been my commodity for over a decade and I was starting to burn out — I rediscovered my love for pleasure reading, which brought some much-needed inspiration. And as I type this, at 3:30 a.m. on New Year’s Eve, I’m realizing I also rediscovered my love for the job along the way.
Support Local Journalism
Furthermore, I’m 20 pounds lighter today than I was when I made that initial commitment, this time last year.
But I digress; this is not a column about how to achieve maximum wellness, nor is it about hitting all your goals with pinpoint accuracy — if that’s what you’re looking for, you might have better luck in our Sports and Outdoors section.
Rather, residual effects are what comes to mind here.
As we enter this new year, and we all humor those seemingly far-fetched resolutions, I recommend that you try not to get too hung up on the specifics. Instead, I would implore acknowledging that we are all works in progress — even the Olympians. And the things you resolve for — you chose them for a reason, and ignoring them would indeed be a disservice to yourself.
As the late American author Norman Vincent Peale once said, “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.”
So don’t give up, but don’t beat yourself up either. The road to achievement might be longer than you think — and perhaps filled with detours — but it’s nonetheless worth traveling.
I look forward to all of us becoming better versions of ourselves in 2026.
Happy New Year.
Sean Naylor is the interim editor at Vail Daily.
