The New Year, 2016, is finally upon us. With every new year comes new beginnings, new opportunities, and the infamous New Year’s resolutions. Many people strive to find their inner peace, cleanse their souls, hit the gym more, or turn to healthier food options. But all too often the “new year, new me” mantra fails to last even half of the year. Why is that? Not to be a downer, but New Year’s resolutions often become empty promises and aspirations falling to the side. Once people get back into their daily lives, there becomes less and less space for the new ideas conceived on the first day of the year.
The top New Year’s Resolutions for 2015 include:
1. Lose weight.
2. Get organized.
3. Spend less, save more.
4. Enjoy life to the fullest.
5. Stay fit and healthy.
6. Learn something exciting.
7. Quit smoking.
8. Help others in their dreams.
9. Fall in love.
10. Spend more time with family.
The statistics from about New Year’s resolutions show that 45 percent of Americans make New Year’s resolutions, while only 8 percent actually fulfill those resolutions. I can conclude that the resolutions made for 2016 will be similar to 2015, and revolve around bettering oneself and others. Since only 8 percent of the 45 percent of Americans that make resolutions actually fulfill them, there must be a disconnect. I have never successfully completed a New Year’s Resolution, that I can remember. Most of mine have dealt with physical appearance and what I consume, like many other Americans.
That is why this new year, I have decided not to make a resolution. I have decided to go “rogue” from the 45 percent category that I’ve been a part of for most of my life. I do not feel that it is necessary for me to make another empty promise to myself this year. If I am going to achieve a milestone and new lifestyle this year then I do not need a resolution conceived on the first day of the year to do so. My decision is not to take away from the people that make resolutions and even fulfill them. I applaud the discipline of those people, and strive to achieve that one day. But I’m not in that place in my life yet. I am 19 years old, and instead of worrying about a New Year’s resolution in the back of my head, I am going to live life as it comes. That is not to say that I am going to sit on the couch everyday and wait for something to happen. I am going to find my own adventure and way in the world, but I am going to do it on my own terms, and however it appears in my life. Free from the restrictions of a New Year’s resolution. This new idea may even sound like a resolution, and maybe it is. But for the new year, the new me is going to live with the flow of life and try to better myself along the way. But who knows, I might go back to a New Year’s resolution for 2017, if that is where life leads me.
