Every year, there’s a rush to get to the gym the day after New Year’s Day. With the best of intentions, new year’s resolutioners put on their new workout gear, determined to lose weight, get in shape, run a mile or three in their best time ever. These are laudable goals.

But come February or March, the number of people out walking the boardwalk in Washington, or attending the various fitness facilities in Beaufort County, tends to drop. Life gets in the way of the best of intentions.

But New Year’s resolutions don’t have to be a one-time shot at achieving personal goals. Resolutions don’t need to be put in such black and white terms as success and failure. Falling off the wagon doesn’t have to be a permanent state, whether that applies to skipping a week at the gym or sneaking a sweet when you’ve sworn them off.

Just because you’re too busy one week to get to the gym, or find yourself unable to turn down a dessert at a dinner party, doesn’t mean it’s over. While we tend to formulate our resolutions as a winner-take-all deal, they’re really good for the whole year. A rocky start is just that — a start. It’s not the finish.

Realistically, it’s hard to change old habits. Hard, but not impossible. The key is going one step at a time. One foot in front of the other on the treadmill. One “just say no” to dessert or a mid-afternoon snack.

This year’s New Year’s resolutions apply to every day of the year — each day a new opportunity to ditch the old habits and make 2014 a better year.