Why do we make New Year’s resolutions? We make them because doing so is a societal tradition and we feel pressured to improve our perceived flaws. Maybe you want to be skinnier, maybe you think that getting a man will improve your life drastically or maybe you’re just trying to fit in. The thing is, you most likely don’t need to lose weight, you don't need a man and you don’t need to "fit in."
Over the years, I’ve come to realize that New Year’s resolutions are really just ways we try to fix what other people have been hinting over the past year is wrong with us. All those whispers in your ear, the ones that point out all your flaws, contribute to what you resign to fix in the coming year. However, what if you stopped pointing out what others think is wrong with you and started the new year off by focusing on all the positives in your own life, all the great things about you and what makes you happy?
All those carefully crafted resolutions fall by the wayside after a few weeks anyway when you realize your new gluten-free, dairy-free, low-carb, low-salt and no-sugar diet has you eating three sugar-free grapes a day. Furthermore, you’re unhappy, cranky and missing out on all those nights out with friends because you couldn’t bear the sight of loaded fries and a chilled Diet Coke. The question now is why did you waste the first three weeks of 2016 miserable and in a self-induced state of famine? Sure, you lost five pounds and your mother thinks your cheekbones look lovely, but you can’t live like that forever and you lost three weeks of your life (and the new year) trying to lose weight because you wanted to look more like Karlie Kloss and less like you.
I know making and trying to keep New Year’s resolutions is a tradition. We’ve all been making and breaking them for years. To those of you who make healthy ones and keep them, props to you. You’ve managed to do what 90 percent of us haven’t ever been able to do. However, this year I’m not making any resolutions, and to those of you who have, I encourage you to break them. So much of our life is spent trying to conform to society and trying to fit in. This year, don’t fit in. Stop worrying about what others think about you and start embracing who you really are. If we all spent as much time focusing on the all the aspects of ourselves that we love, what makes us unique and all the wonderful blessings we already have, then we’d live much happier lives. So this year, don’t worry about anything other than you. Break those resolutions and break free. You’re a pretty amazing person and if you spend all year trying to meet resolutions that try and hide it, you’re doing yourself, and the world, a huge disservice.
