Nobody wants to talk about New Year’s resolutions in the second week of January. You and I have already screamed past the reset button and are on to whatever is next. It may as well be July. But why is our attention to these things so short lived?
I’ve never been particularly fond of resolutions. At least not the type you make when the calendar flips to 1. It’s not that I’m against them. I just never really cared much about them. Not that choosing to be better or different isn’t worth committing to. It is. Very much so. I’ve just never been moved by the new year/new you kind of thinking. Maybe it’s because resolutions are so easily gone back on. It seems like they’re made to be broken. That’s a shame, really. The choices made to make something better, be something better are worth achieving if they were worth pursuing. But resolutions carry some unfair baggage. They’re known by their lack of follow through. That’s the cliche. Make a resolution knowing you’re probably just going to break it some time in January. Why else would people ask if you’re still keeping yours? For those that ask, that is.
Would it make any difference if we stopped calling them resolutions?
I say it might.
I think we should call them promises.
That’s what a resolution is, isn’t it? It’s a promise to yourself, even if it involves other people. Most of us when we make a promise try like heck to keep it. We don’t want to let the other person down. We don’t want to confront the pain or disappointment when we do. But we don’t often keep the promises we make to ourselves. One reason might be that nobody else is involved so nobody else will know. The disappointment felt is only our own and we can rationalize that easily. We’re pros at that. There are plenty of solid reasons, we tell ourselves, why we couldn’t keep that commitment to ourselves. In fact, we probably shouldn’t have made it in the first place. We’ll know better next time.
Not every commitment to ourselves is going to be kept. Holding them as promises might give us an edge though.
I’ve made some promises recently. Some to myself. Some to my family. Some to others. All are worth pursuing so all are worth achieving. They happen to coincide with the calendar. As I get a better glimpse of what I’m capable of I’ll likely make some more. I won’t wait till next year though.
Would you care to join me?
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