Every year I see many people making New Years Resolutions. I wonder how many of them actually keep them. I know I've made many in my life and well, to be honest have not kept many of them So several years ago I decided I would no longer make resolutions, at least not just on New Years Day.
I see New Years Resolutions as a sort of ticket to many people giving them the official opening to do just about everything they find wrong and resolve to change their behavior at the end of the year. So many people lie, cheat steal and pretty much live a hedonistic lifestyle until December 31 when for some reason they feel this draw toward making resolution to do better, become a better person or whatever better there is out there for them to be. So they make these unrealistic resolutions, "I will not drink in the new year", "I will not cheat on my spouse in the new year." and so on. Things they should do just because they are the right way to be. This sets people up to fail because the heart has not changed, just the mind for that one "romantic" night. Yes romantic, I say romantic because romance has many meanings, some are having a fascination or enthusiasm about something. So on December 31 many people are enthusiastic about doing the right thing. Then a few days later the romance dies and they revert back to their old ways.
Other less moral resolutions are those to eat better, exercise more and get healthy. Well those are also things that become romanticized with the end of an old year and start of a new. We as people want to cleanse ourselves and become a purer being. For some reason we seem to think that December 31 is the time to validate these plans. Then the new year comes and goes, we as people forget those resolutions and go back to the unhealthy ways of life. Mostly because the allure of that romantic resolution drew us in, not the reality that maybe we need to get healthy and eat better.
So with those thoughts in mind I decided years ago to no longer make resolutions or rather promises to myself that I will not keep. I work hard to live my life as I believe is right all year long form start to finish. As for healthy eating and getting healthy, I am not always successful there but am working on it. I know making a resolution on December 31 will not prepare me to "get healthy" it will most likely set me up to fail. All resolutions must be a way of life, they must be something we do out of either moral belief or a desire to get and stay healthy. So the answer to the question is no resolution, mindset change is the way to succeed.
Setting resolutions for yourself at New Year (and telling all your friends!) is one of those traditions which no-one knows the origin of and I would guess that (if I am any guide) 95% of them aren't kept for very long! :)
ReplyDeleteIt is a tradition I stopped once I realized the resolutions were never kept and then I decided inner changes is what I needed most.
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