Resolve is a virtue almost all of us strive towards in one way or another. Our attempts at resolution can be seen the most at the end of a calendar year when we feel the changing of a date can represent an even greater change in ourselves. Maybe we're dumb for thinking we'll suddenly jump out of our old skin and appear shiny, new, better and wiser when the clock hits Midnight, but the New Year allows us a marked time to do something we forget about most of the Year—reflect. Maybe with this personal reflection, we actually can make the changes in ourselves we want to see, and the changing of one number to the next can help.
I've never really made a New Year's resolution list. It just seemed too cliche. But going into the new year, I would have ideas of what I'd like to improve. They weren't really different from resolutions I'd make day to day, things like: go to the gym more, be nicer to my friends, work on homework more efficiently, things I'd notice as I went along. Really we make resolutions all the time, but we never really make note of it except on the New Year. What seems to make the New Year's resolution so special is that people don't normally make resolutions, or at least they don't notice themselves making any.
The new year is especially enticing as a time to make resolution lists because part of you feels like you're actually starting something new. It's so much easier to convince yourself to try finally going to the gym when a new year rolls around. It's like starting from scratch. Of course, most of us don't actually fulfill our resolutions, but this isn't the fault of the new year's resolution but our inability to set and enact our goals. We want to be smarter, stronger, better looking, nicer, but these aren't goals you can just arbitrarily set and accomplish. They're things you need to deconstruct and work on piece by piece.
We set lofty goals in the beginning of the year, and as soon as they don't work out we abandon them. What we should really be doing is making more resolutions. If I want to be more friendly and outgoing, I don't make that my resolution, I start with something smaller, like saying yes more. By saying yes, I would open the door to more social situations, which would eventually work towards my larger goal. Find the root of what you want to change, and resolve to do that instead, and then after that, set another resolution. You need to set goals you can work on immediately, and then figure out how you can do more after. Your goal of losing 20 pounds will feel hopeless after a few weeks, but resolving to walk more will allow you to fulfill your sense of accomplishment.
So yes, New Year's is a great time to start over and analyze what we want to do differently, but don't limit yourself to just this time. Make resolutions whenever possible, after classes, after the weekend, write them down even. You owe it to yourself to make promises you can keep, things that will help you now and make you feel better latter. So this year, resolve to make more resolutions.
