There comes a time in each person's life when they decide to reflect on what they have accomplished, what they failed at, and what they still want to achieve with their time left on this solid ground. For some, this time comes only once and society deems it as a midlife crisis; but for others, this time comes once a year between the celebration of Christmas and the New Year. For those individuals, society deems it as setting New Year's Resolutions.
The concept of New Year's Resolutions did not start out as a personal self improvement goal or a goal to become financially secure. According to one article from History, the ancient Babylonians were the first to practice making resolutions. Their resolutions were promises made to the gods in attempts to earn their favor as well as to start the new year off on the right foot. In another article from History, if the Babylonians kept their word to the gods, the gods in turn would bless the them with good fortune. This act of making promises to the gods is considered to be the predecessor of our modern day tradition of setting New Year's Resolutions.
In today's society, we are not blessed with good fortune if we keep our resolutions. If we were, would we stick to our goals? We might. It's sad to think that most people do not follow through with their resolutions. In fact, Statistic Brain says that out of the 45% of Americans that usually set resolutions only 8% are successful in achieving them.
After setting resolutions and slowly moving away from completing them like most Americans, I have decided not to set New Year's Resolutions this year. Don't get me wrong, I want to better myself as much as the person to my left. But as a young woman who is almost 20 years old, I feel like I would be setting myself up for failure.
The phrase, "New year, new beginning" echos in the back of my mind while writing this. Do I really need a new beginning? Do I need the coming of a new year to bring motivation for me to make a personal commitment to do something for myself? How badly do I want to do something if I am waiting for the first of the year? I deserve better than this. Each day brings a new sunrise and each sunrise brings new possibilities. Shouldn't that be enough of a fresh start if I am truly committed to making a change?
Despite a set of resolutions, I am excited to see what 2017 brings. I am certain that 2017 will be filled with unseen opportunity along with days of joy and days of disappointment, just like 2016 was. I will go through each day committed to myself, using it as a fresh start to not repeat the mistakes I made yesterday.
