New Year’s Resolutions

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The New Year is underway, and somewhere, a well meaning soul is trying to stick to his/her New Year’s resolutions.

I wish him or her good luck. However, I haven’t made any resolutions.

Making resolutions is a time honored tradition at New Year’s. For most people, the resolutions are broken within the first month of making them.

That includes resolutions to lose weight that may include joining a gym or a weight loss program, both of which can have a hefty price tag.

It includes resolutions that have a tangible reward: a new wardrobe, a trip, better relationships, and better health.

It’s a documented phenomenon that New Years’ resolutions don’t work.

I wonder why this happens.

I think most people who make resolutions are sincere—they want a better life, to be healthier, slimmer, kinder, and all the other rewards that keeping the resolutions would grant.

Is it because we see New Year’s resolutions as something that can be broken?  After all, aren’t promises made to be broken, according to an old saying? Or is that making the life style changes necessary to fulfill the resolutions are too challenging?

Whenever I’ve done something to improve my life, it was a decision I made after realizing that  continuing to do what I was doing would not make me happy. In other words, making changes, at least for me, is not contingent on making a promise to myself or a time of year.

Do you make New Year’s resolutions? Have you ever kept any?

 

Image courtesy of Pixabay

 

 

About Kathy

I grew up in Buffalo,New York the second eldest child in a family that eventually included eight children. The neighborhood was an Irish-American enclave. These two facts explain a great deal about me. I spent many years as a teacher who really thought of herself as a writer.

One Response to New Year’s Resolutions

  1. My number one resolution this year is to help Bernie Sanders get elected. Since I became obsessed by this goal before Jan. 1, I think it is one that will stick.

    My second one is to get 2 short ebooks self-published. I’ve been procrastinating on this for some time, so maybe the resolution should have been to “quit procrastinating.”

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