Did you make any new year’s resolutions this year? And if you did, how are you going at sticking to them? We’ve reached the second half of January now, and some will have ‘fallen off the wagon’, while others may be teetering on the edge.
What is, I suspect, a very small group among you will have maintained your promise to yourselves after more than a fortnight. If you’re part of that cohort, well done you!
My only success in the new year’s resolution department came several years ago when I resolved to never again make a new year’s resolution. I can proudly report that I have succeeded!
Of course that promise was largely facetious, but it was actually based on a modicum of common sense (at least in my mind). My reasoning was two-pronged. First, I’d had a long history of making new year’s resolutions and then breaking them pretty quickly. Eventually I worked out that (a) I wasn’t very good at sticking to these resolutions and (b) I was wracked by guilt after breaking my commitment.
Second, the idea of making resolutions tied to a new year was leaving me with nowhere to turn once broken. “Just wait until next year!” sounds a bit empty in January, even if it’s late January.
I still think resolutions are a good idea, but I no longer tie them to the new year. Instead, I’ll just pick a day or date and have a go. It might be on my birthday in March or the first day of a season or month. But it doesn’t have to be. Any day or date will do.
I’m still not great at sticking to my promises (to myself that is; I’m usually great at keeping promises to others) but, being a generally optimistic person, I’m happy to ‘jump back on the horse’ as soon as I’ve fallen off.
None of this is to denigrate those who still make new year’s resolutions. If they work for you, that’s fantastic. You have my admiration and envy. But I’m comfortable with my resolution of never again making a new year’s resolution!
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