Why you shouldn’t Bother Making new Years Resolutions
Making a New Year’s resolution can be a useful way to make a change in your life for the better. The most popular choices are to eat healthier, lose weight, exercise more, quit smoking and spend more time with friends and family. All of these are worthy choices and most of us will have thought about doing at least one of these at one time or another.
For some it can be seen as a one year challenge. Can you go a year without drinking coffee or without missing a single gym class? (I once challenged myself to read every unread book on my bookshelf).
There is a problem with making these resolutions. It’s too easy to get caught up in the excitement of New Years. When you hear other people announcing their resolution it creates a sense that you’re all in it together. You might even think of something just because everyone else has one. So what happens a week in when your best friend says they’ve broken their resolution already? If they’re not bothering then why should you?
The thing is any big change in your life can’t come from a momentary feeling of excitement because that will fade rather quickly. Let’s say your resolution was to write book. Enthusiasm may take you a few chapters in if you’re lucky and one day you’ll open up that Word document and decide you just can’t be bothered.
Most resolutions are abandoned after a month or two as people decide it’s too much like hard work. When the fun of New Years is long behind you, only perseverance and determination will see you through. But the sad fact is that most people will just give up. Chocolate has become too tempting, it’s becoming harder and harder to go out in the cold for a jog and life is just getting so busy that you have no time to finish reading that book.
Resolutions are made with the best of intentions and there’s something very noble about trying to improve yourself in some way. So why not try this? Forget the New Year’s resolution this January and wait.
Changes, big and small, can happen at any time of the year and a lot of the time it’s better that way. You can make the changes whenever you want. If you want to eat healthier, don’t just dive in to an all vegan, soya based diet. Start slowly and with small changes. If it’s exercise you need more of then try walking instead of driving every once in a while. And if you really want to do it with a friend make sure it’s something you both want to do. Don't let it be just a once-a-year competition.
If you wanted to set out to start a new project this year, give yourself time to plan and think. Give the initial excitement time to go away and if you’re still thinking about it a month later then chances are you have the determination to see it through to the end, not to mention you’ll have a month’s worth of ideas.
We are all capable of changing for the better. If we only attempt to do it at one time of the year then we’ll never get round to doing anything the rest of the time. So don’t bother with New Year’s resolutions because it’s up to you how and when you make a real change to your life.
