Western civilizations have appalling tendencies to crave and create new to replace old, even before the old has become broken or even obsolete. In fact, in most cases (I'm looking at you, Apple), the only thing rendering last season's technology or fashion obsolete is because we are making new things to replace them, not because they have in fact outlived their usefulness.

And now, halfway through January, we are facing the same problem, though we don't realize it yet. In this new year, full of possibilities and maybe change, the invention that has become so odious and stale to us now is, quite simply, ourselves. Yes, ingrained in us is the foolish notion that we are never good enough and that every year, the moment the clock strikes 12, we become last year's model: out of style and repulsive.

This is the sole reason why our resolutions never work for us. And why the gyms that were full to the max at the beginning of January slowly return to the dedicated few by the end of the month. In fact, our resolutions will always fail us if we deem our present selves to be a burden or a nuisance on the shiny "new" individual we'd like to be.

I'm not saying that having goals to improve yourself isn't a great idea — it's a wonderful idea. But we have to stop picturing a before and after in which the starting point is a wreck in desperate need of complete repair. We have to change the way we perceive ourselves and accept each phase as what it is — a phase, not a bad and a good, an ugly and a beautiful, etc.

Once we stop worrying so much about where we are headed and what we are trying to leave behind, we can enjoy the changes. But we are not enjoying those changes just because they are different from what was before, but because they are yet another example of our own determination, consistency, organization and our ability to evolve and follow what makes us happy.

Stop thinking of your motivated post-resolution self as a "better you" because you are already the best, just for being you. Instead, think of it as a continuation of who you were all along, maybe with a different or more clear focus.

Look forward to your future out of love for your present, not out of hate for who you see staring at you in the mirror. I promise if you can do that, you'll be able to look back on this year and see everything you did accomplish, not what you abandoned a month into the challenge.