Yes, the new year came faster than anyone expected. There are few things you'll hear more than "I can't believe the year is over already," or "it was just July". One thing that does come close to perhaps beating that conversation is the obligatory New Year's Resolutions discussion. There are people posting their lists, the ones opposing the whole concept, and the ones who ignore it all just waiting for the year to be over. Personally, I don't see anything wrong with the concept of resolutions. It's important to be evaluating where we are as opposed to where we want to be in our lives. New Year's Resolutions may not be the best way to go about this.
You should not have to wait until the end of the year to decide to change something in your life. It seems natural. As things end, of course, you will want to look back and reflect on how they went. It's convenient to say "new year, new me." But why is it that so many people will be midway through March and recognize that a specific change will make them happier or improve their quality of life, yet they wait until December to enact it? That is nine months of living a better life that was just missed out on. If there is something that will improve your life, why not start towards it as soon as possible?
The closer to the beginning of the year that someone fails at their resolution, the more likely it is that they give up on it completely. Of course, failure is discouraging, but the reason that for the change in the first place shouldn't be forgotten. The value it can add to your life shouldn't change depending on whether you start on January 1, 21, or the middle of July. When you're at the end of the next year, do you want to look back at your last failed resolution that ended in January? Or do you want to feel confident in the fact that you at least got it done, even if it wasn't to the extent you had hoped or expected.
You may fail at a resolution more than once. There are plenty of articles already out there on how to set achievable goals; however, life has a highly unpredictable quality about it. A plan made in one moment may not work in the next. In the case of failure, do not give up. Do not panic. Assess what went wrong and why. Adapt your action plan to avoid the same failure. Try to prevent other downfalls. Start again. Always start again. Eventually, you'll start again and you will succeed.
They say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. This year, don't just make your standard New Year's Resolutions. Find yourself achievable goals and then don't give up. It's only when you've given up that you've failed. “You don't get to win unless you play in the game,” said the character Alexander Hamilton, from the show Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda.
