The holiday season is a crazy time of year. Between whatever religious holiday you might celebrate during the month of December, the inevitable traffic that comes with those holidays and traveling, the money spent on gifts, and the stress of family- we aren’t always at our best during the holidays. But at the end of the season no matter who you are, your culture or background, New Year’s always rolls around. And with the New Year comes New Year’s Resolutions. Every year during the holiday season I reflect on what I did over the past year, my successes, my failures, and what I want to achieve for the next year. But this year has been a little different; 2016 was a roller coaster. It’s been a year full of milestones and happy memories and excitement but also trials and tears and obstacles I had to overcome that made it such a memorable year. So as 2016 is coming to a close I’ve started thinking about my goals for 2017. And the result of this year’s reflection is something I’ve never come to before. People typically respond with a one of the common resolutions like “lose this many pounds” or “go to the gym” or “be more involved with my children”, it can almost be predicted what people will say. And some people even have the same resolution year after year. But throughout my life, I’ve had resolutions like “eat less junk food”, “be nicer”, or “work harder in school” but this year there isn’t a resolution. For me, 2017 is the year that I’m not going to set myself up for disappointment or to let myself down by not upkeeping my resolution or perfectly fulfilling everything I wanted to change over the year. So instead of setting a specific goal for myself or deciding what I want to do for the next year, I’ve decided to just be happy with myself and take life as it comes.
Some people could view this as negative for not wanting to better myself or deciding what I should fix in my life but for me it’s a positive and a step in the right direction. The problem I see with this tradition and that causes me to dislike New Year’s Resolutions is that people tend to disappoint themselves. This isn’t because those people are bad people or lead bad lives, just that we expect too much of ourselves. People are imperfect and in a society where so much is already expected of everyone and the expectations are constantly growing so no matter how good we do or how much of our goal we achieve, it never feels like enough. We say we want to set realistic goals but the truth of the matter is, it’s never realistic. When it comes to resolutions we expect perfection and the second that we screw up, which is going to happen because we’re humans, we give up. So, the way I see it, you have two options- either keep going and never get discouraged or just don’t have a resolution. Now, if you’re able to do the first then I commend you and would love to chat and get some pointers on how but for me, not asking too much of myself is my strategy. While I was writing this, my Uncle Seth and I had a conversation about resolutions and I took his stance into consideration and reflected on it. He believes that you should have a resolution but to make it manageable, which is completely understandable, but with my “go big or go home” attitude I’ve chosen to go home on the New Year’s Resolution topic. I haven’t given up on 2017, in fact I’m pumped and ready to make it the best year yet. I’m ready for a year of happiness, achievements, and success. I’m ready to be the best person I can be, but I don’t have any set goals. 2017 is going to happen and there are plans set in stone and God’s got it all figured out already no matter what I plan to try to achieve. I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen and what life throws at me, and this year I’ll do it without a resolution.
