It’s the first week of January, and I’m sure a lot of us are either hitting the gym this weekend, starting a juice cleanse, or squeezing into one of those corsets that the Kardashian’s live in. Well, I’m here to tell you why this is ridiculous.
First off, 2015 was literally three days ago. So what do I mean? Three days ago, you were sitting in your footie pajamas watching reruns of Friends, eating a bag of sour cream and onion potato chips. What changed when the ball dropped? Nothing but the year, that’s what. 2016 is just the title of the newest set of 12 months that are coming around the corner to kick your butt.
I get the psychological significance of “new year, new me.” I hate to tell you this, but it’s still the same life you were living in 2015. Start 2016 off exactly how you want to. In your mind, if it does in fact, begin with protein shakes and lifting, then by all means, lift the heaviest thing you can find. If it starts with sleeping for an entire day, go for it. I'm telling you that it's absolutely okay to give up, to forget about it, to break it. You're not tied into any sort of contract to continue your 2016 pledges.
Every day of your life, when you wake up, you’re given the chance to start over. To do whatever you want to. So what makes the New Year any different? Don’t put so much pressure on yourself to succeed at your New Year’s resolutions. If you can’t, that’s okay. You can try again tomorrow. You really can try again! The pressure from society these days to look a certain way, feel a certain way, and do things a certain way, is really just pressure. You can push against it. It hasn’t been declared a national law to make New Year’s resolutions and stick with them.
In a way, yes, of course, New Year’s resolutions are a great excuse to begin down the path towards your ideal lifestyle. Sometimes, these resolutions do become the beginning of truly great things. To those who succeed in them, I applaud you. Resolutions are an incredibly useful incentive. “I will continue to eat vegan because it was my New Year’s resolution, I won’t give up.” If this is how you stick with your pledge to avoid sugar, then good for you. However, this article is for those who can’t grip tightly enough to the idea of running every day or reading a book a week.
My point is, If you’re feeling pressured to make a resolution, and don’t actually want to—no worries. There’s nothing forcing you to. If you do make a resolution, don’t feel bad if you can’t keep it. If you can’t, you can try again another day. That’s the beauty of life.
