It is the same thing every year, "New Year, New Me!", but why do we wait to make changes? What is it about the first day of a new year that makes everyone feel the urge to change something about their lives? Why is it so difficult to hold ourselves to these changes? Everyone has asked themselves these same questions at least once, if not multiple times before.
I recently watched a video of a four-year-old that is floating around Facebook (which can be seen after this paragraph) who makes the same exact statement and for some reason, it has really caught my attention. She states about half way through the video that "One big decision probably is not going to effect your life that much". I have been around for 20 new years, crazy huh, but this is actually the first time that I have found myself involved in the phenomenon of New Year's resolutions and I am going to do my best not to put too much pressure on myself. If I end up being extremely successful, fantastic, but if not then at least I tried something new. Besides, we are given 365 new days, 52 new weeks, and 12 new months every year that we can make a change in.
New Year's resolutions are very much statistical, it is expected that come the second week of February 80% of people who made resolutions will have given up and ultimately failed to meet their goals. That gives people only six weeks of making the change that they wanted to whether it was to lose weight, be kinder to others, be to work on time, or whatever it may have been. But what happens during the over 46 weeks of the year? Do they consist of different changes with less pressure of pursuing them or are they the time we just continue living our lives as they were before? I am not saying to completely throw away the idea of New Year's resolution and I am not trying to say that you are going to be one of the statistics about them. What I am trying to say is that maybe there is another way people can go about resolutions in the new year.
What if instead of setting number goals like losing seven pounds by January 15th, we made it a goal to drink more water and workout during the week. That way instead of making our goals so specific it's almost impossible to meet, they are more reasonable and the pressure of the goal is not overwhelming. Maybe if our goals were made to be more reachable, instead of so specific we would be able to obtain them. Instead of making number goals, make goals such that can be changed by going to the gym more often or drinking more water. Whatever your resolution might be, the only change I could ask of everyone is to just be kinder, make someone smile. It'll change your day just as much as it will the other person.
