New Year's Resolutions: a Necessary Evil
Well, the new year has finally arrived. I was chatting with a friend last night, and we were discussing how he was relieved that 2005 was finally over. According to him, it was a "hellish" year. Next, I chatted briefly with another colleague of mine, and she, too, was relieved that 2005 was finally over. According to her, 2006 is going to be "her year".
Well, isn't that just it? At the beginning of each year, while we revel, party and bask in the company of friends and family, we--with aspirations of job promotions, long-lasting, intimate relationships, greater physical strength and fitness and educational endeavors-- make all sorts of resolutions and promises to ourselves and others, knowing full-well that many of them -- if any -- will not be fulfilled, knowing that -- in fact-- the year may end up being a complete disaster. I'm sure that the thousands of Tsunami victims and their families would never have thought in their wildest dreams that 2004 would have ended so tragically. Additionally, the many who perished and who lost their homes and family in the Hurricane Katrina disaster did not hope, wish for or ever dream of that to happen to them.
However, that's just the radomness of life. That ever truthful cliche: "...One never knows..." is what comes to my mind, here. But, that's just it: we really never know, and that gives us even more reason to make positive resolutions and even to write them down. Often, I chat with people at the beginning of each year, and many of them say things like: "I don't make new year's resolutions", and, of course, the reasons vary tremendously. One of the unique ones of the bunch was: "I don't make new year's resolutions because it's...Like...I'm giving myself an excuse to set up myself for failure." Quite dramatic, I thought when I heard that excuse.
Formulating new year's resolutions, though, does not set us up for failure. Quite the opposite. New year's resolutions give us a map. Hey, life is already so random, so unpredictable. Having some form of map or goal makes the journey that much easier. It's like I always say: "A map doesn't mean that you have to stick to a specific route, a good map, however, shows you all the routes that you can take whenever and however you want to." In other words, setting goals for ourselves isn't a means to set up ourselves for failure. It's simply a tool that helps us to put into focus the very things that we've always hoped and wished for, but never had the guts to embrace. New year's resolutions help us say to ourselves: This is my life on my terms. Now, how often do we get to express, in writing, that premise? How often do we write something down that is a direct -- not a metaphoric -- declaration of how WE are going to run OUR OWN lives?
New year's resolutions, then, are a necessary evil. So what if we don't stick to all of them? The very fact that we articulated them in the first place speaks to the capacity we have as humans to be unique. In this corporate world of sameness and going with the grain, as opposed to against it, new year's resolutions give us a reason to be OURSELVES.
Well, isn't that just it? At the beginning of each year, while we revel, party and bask in the company of friends and family, we--with aspirations of job promotions, long-lasting, intimate relationships, greater physical strength and fitness and educational endeavors-- make all sorts of resolutions and promises to ourselves and others, knowing full-well that many of them -- if any -- will not be fulfilled, knowing that -- in fact-- the year may end up being a complete disaster. I'm sure that the thousands of Tsunami victims and their families would never have thought in their wildest dreams that 2004 would have ended so tragically. Additionally, the many who perished and who lost their homes and family in the Hurricane Katrina disaster did not hope, wish for or ever dream of that to happen to them.
However, that's just the radomness of life. That ever truthful cliche: "...One never knows..." is what comes to my mind, here. But, that's just it: we really never know, and that gives us even more reason to make positive resolutions and even to write them down. Often, I chat with people at the beginning of each year, and many of them say things like: "I don't make new year's resolutions", and, of course, the reasons vary tremendously. One of the unique ones of the bunch was: "I don't make new year's resolutions because it's...Like...I'm giving myself an excuse to set up myself for failure." Quite dramatic, I thought when I heard that excuse.
Formulating new year's resolutions, though, does not set us up for failure. Quite the opposite. New year's resolutions give us a map. Hey, life is already so random, so unpredictable. Having some form of map or goal makes the journey that much easier. It's like I always say: "A map doesn't mean that you have to stick to a specific route, a good map, however, shows you all the routes that you can take whenever and however you want to." In other words, setting goals for ourselves isn't a means to set up ourselves for failure. It's simply a tool that helps us to put into focus the very things that we've always hoped and wished for, but never had the guts to embrace. New year's resolutions help us say to ourselves: This is my life on my terms. Now, how often do we get to express, in writing, that premise? How often do we write something down that is a direct -- not a metaphoric -- declaration of how WE are going to run OUR OWN lives?
New year's resolutions, then, are a necessary evil. So what if we don't stick to all of them? The very fact that we articulated them in the first place speaks to the capacity we have as humans to be unique. In this corporate world of sameness and going with the grain, as opposed to against it, new year's resolutions give us a reason to be OURSELVES.
posted by Rog at 9:17 PM
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