Why we don’t need to wait until January 1 to start anew
By Isabel Chang ’24
Click, clack.
Click, clack.
Nope, nope, nope. The bright, multicolored arrow pointing into the snack aisle is anything but blind to my eyes as I continue the arduous trek towards the produce aisle, my wheels slowing down as I pass rows upon rows of calorie-induced tangible joy.
But not this year.
Nope.
Because this year, I have the power of a New Year’s resolution (though, if I’m being honest, it’s voice has dulled into a distant whisper at this point) in my ear saying I must change my ways if I want a bright future. And that is precisely the reason why I have plastic grocery bags filled with orange carrots instead of orange Cheetos, and the reason why my Pinterest board has become littered with “delicious smoothie recipe!( Sure to brighten your skin in just a few days and absolutely stocked with antioxidants!!)”
In fact, not only has a healthy eating resolution been implemented, an exercise routine has been put into place as well. Every morning, at six a.m., when the sun has barely peeked out its lazy eyes over the horizon, the sound of my sneakers slapping onto cold pavement can be heard throughout the neighborhood as I run, breathing in the crisp morning air as the cold bites into my skin.
Oh, guess what? There’s more.
This year, I’m going to be organized and be on a schedule. No more late night coffee induced writing bonanzas that end with me turning in a paper in which I don’t even know half of the things I wrote. A late paper? Ha, that’s not in my vocabulary. Procrastinating? A myth to be told on Christmas. My room is neater than an Ikea display room, my papers placed carefully into binders, pristine notes flowing across the color-coded notebooks I got for Christmas. My grades shout at me to keep it up, for they are the ones who have truly begun to shine since New Year’s.
But wait. Is that it? Of course not.
This year, I’m going to stretch my limits. Learn something new every week. Join a book club. Learn to knit. Pick up some French, some Russian, and, who knows, maybe even dive into a bit of Japanese and Chinese. And that yoga class on Saturdays my friends have been trying to drag me to? I’m joining voluntarily. Because this year, knowledge is to be pursued.
Yet, it doesn’t end there.
Spending habits are to be changed. The brand new blender I’ve been dying to get for what seems like forever? Nope, I’m saving up. That gorgeous pair of wireless earphones sitting primly in the mall? I can always buy them later. This year, I refuse to be without restrictions. I shall be so good at saving money the bank comes to me. I shall be so good at spending responsibly that I make money.
Woo, what a mouthful of brand new habits. In fact, I’ve been keeping this up for what feels like forever. You know what I deserve? That’s right, a break.
And so, flipping through the crisp agenda sitting primly on my desk, I run a finger over the pages, prepared to write break down onto the little blank spot under today’s date. Wait, what is today’s date? It’s got to have been at least a month, right?
It certainly feels like a month.
I quickly flip over my phone as I am overcome with sudden fear. Its clean case is suddenly very menacing. My finger shivers as I unlock my home screen. I see my new wallpaper: a list of things to accomplish today. My botany club is at three this afternoon. My eyes scan over the screen, moving reluctantly towards the bottom of the clock, where the date is displayed. Today is…
It can’t be.
It’s been forever.
…at least, it felt like forever.
Today is only January 4th.
And thus, ladies and gentlemen, does the crumbling of resolutions begin.
But what have I done wrong here? Everything seems as if it has gone according to plan. I immediately implemented habits, I cut out junk food, I quit lazing around, and I threw everything ‘negative’ was thrown out the window and cast it to the curb with the trash.
Why didn’t it work?
One thing many people confuse is exactly what a New Year’s resolution is. It isn’t becoming perfect. It shouldn’t be. Many times, resolutions become a dragging responsibility rather than what they should truly embody: the end of a life you aren’t proud of and the beginning of one you are.
And maybe that life does include eating healthy. Perhaps it does include saving money and going to the gym and being neat and organized and learning four languages at once. Often times, it’s not. Responsibilities are the opposite of truly living. As different as those two are, it’s easy to muddle them up.
At first, as shown with my example up above, the first day is filled with energy and excitement about these new habits. Visions of results blossom into the mind and fill up the senses. Obstacles in the way are attacked with vigor and gusto. However, keeping up with these resolutions (or responsibilities, should we call them?) has become increasingly exhausting. Where are the results? Aren’t I supposed to be the epitome of perfection and health and lifestyle now?
Here is where the trick to keeping a resolution comes in.
A resolution isn’t something to be attacked with a new energy every new year. It’s meant to last a long time, perhaps mingling into or even fully merging into your life, a brand new habit or way sure to last more than a long, arduous week. Thus, as redundant as this will sound, the trick to keeping New Year’s resolutions is to not make resolutions.
If there is something about your ways that you want to change, change it the minute you decide to. Start in February, September, even June, but never wait until the new year.
Think of it like this: Start the new year already as the new you, and in the New Year change for the next. That way, the overwhelming 364 (or 365, leap year counts too!) days won’t be a figure counted into the final defeat of resolution, because it is often the exhaustion and seemingly never-ending battle that end up digging the grave for your resolutions.
Finally, don’t make resolutions you know you can’t, or don’t want to, keep. Why pick up running when you despise it? Why learn knitting if you’ll never use it? A skill isn’t money to be earned and left in the account, it’s something that you will be willing to apply, and you will be happy to weave into daily life. If something supposedly fun and enriching turns into a responsibility, then its purpose has already up and left. Pick things that you’ll be more than willing to dive into, and things that aren’t too far out of reach, as well. Creating a perfect replica of the Mona Lisa is impossible as a first step of a goal to get better at art, but a cube you perfectly draw and shade should be a small, rewarding victory.
The new year symbolizes the birth of something new and better, but for many it may also encapsulates the stress and defeat of an impending death of resolutions. However, if these goals and changes are implemented through better techniques, they can be conquered.