New Year's Resolutions - Just my humble opinion
Have you made them and have you kept them?
As I was about to ring in the New Year, or at least try to stay up until midnight for the first time in a long time, I started reminiscing about the previous year and what the new year might bring. Like so many others, New Year’s Eve, and the entire holiday season, is a time to reflect, think, and ponder the age old tradition of a New Year’s resolution. Do I make one, what would it be, and can I keep it?
A couple of years ago, I swore off New Year’s resolutions completely. I know that some are set too high to keep, and the disappointment of breaking your resolution a week into the New Year was just too depressing to think about. Instead I decided to stop the madness and not make any resolutions, but to try to be a better person and improve myself throughout the year. Be positive, help others, work hard, eat healthy, workout, count my blessings, love thy neighbor..……well, you get the picture. I found that for me, that seemed to work out well and although we all have ups and downs, I continue to count my blessings every day and work on the aforementioned list daily.
But this new year’s eve, since I was home watching the ball drop, I decided to make it my weekly writing assignment. I wanted to dig a little deeper into this whole New Year’s Resolution thing, so of course, I went straight to the source and I Googled it!
I started with just the word Resolution, which didn’t get me too far: Resolution: a firm decision to do or not to do something. Well, duh I thought….that I knew. So I dug a little deeper into ‘New Year’s resolution’, and alas. Thanks to good ‘ol Wikipedia: A New Year's resolution is a secular tradition, most common in the Western Hemisphere but also found in the Eastern Hemisphere, in which a person makes a promise to do an act of self-improvement or something slightly nice, such as opening doors for people beginning from New Year's Day.
The Cambridge dictionary gave me the definition that I liked best, probably because it’s so simple and to the point: New Year’s Resolution: a promise that you make to yourself to start doing something good or stop doing something bad on the first day of the year.
OK, now that I had the official definition, I decided to dig a little deeper into who makes them, how many of us make them, and more importantly, who keeps them!
So of course, I went back to Wikipedia. Kind of like Cosmopolitan magazine is for the hip, young gal, Wikipedia is my go to for simple, easy, ok, not always 100% correct, but quotable, search sites.
I learned here that there are some religious origins to this New Year’s resolution thing. The Babylonians made promises to their Gods, and the Romans did too. One of my favorites was from the Medieval era where knights took the “’peacock vow” (you can look that up yourself) at the end of the Christmas season each year to re-affirm their commitment to ‘chivalry’! I’m sure we all know some folks who need to really concentrate on that one. But alas, I digress.
As I kept reading, this next bit of information made total sense. Take for example at the end of the Great Depression, about a quarter of Americans made resolutions. I figure they needed something to look forward to after that so that was no surprise. The numbers seem to rise by the beginning of the 21st century where it said 40% of Americans made resolutions.
So, out of all of us that make them, how many of us keep them? Well, that’s the part of the story that is not so positive. A 2007 study by Richard Wiseman from the University of Bristol involving 3,000 people showed that 88% of us who set a resolution fail. Yes, 88 percent! That’s nearly 90 for those of you counting, and a number very close to 100%! There were more facts from the study about the rate of success is better when you set goals, or work with a counselor, but to me, that isn’t really a New Year’s resolution now is it. Seems more like coaching and therapy.
There was also a list of popular goals made, but I think most of us know those, and most of us have probably made them as well! I decided to do a little of my own research and ask around our town, and here is what I came up with: Most folks I surveyed said they like the thought of a resolution, but the majority don’t make them anymore. It would be interesting to re-connect with the folks who made them come mid month and see how they’re doing, but I think we probably know how this all shakes out.
So, the question to me is not ‘what’ your resolution will be, but ‘if’ you’re going to make one. Now don’t get me wrong, I think a New Year’s resolution can be a great thing. Anytime we take a moment and think about how we can be a better person is a wonderful thing! Even is we all don’t keep them past New Year’s day and a big bucket of chicken wings and ice cream while watching the big game.
So maybe we need to treat every day of the year like New Year’s eve, even if it’s just for a moment each day. Think about how we can be better people, kind to others, do more for those less fortunate, stop smoking, and yes, even lose a few pounds. Good luck to all that have made their New Year’s resolutions, and I’m keeping the faith that you’ll keep them, but if not, pick yourself up and start again tomorrow, cause it’s never too late.
Me? I’m going to stick with my ‘no actual New Year’s resolutions’ plan, and work on myself every day. I figure even if I skip one or two days, I can still try to keep on track.
Happy New Year to all and here’s hoping that it’s a great one! Now pass the chicken wings.
