New Year’s Resolutions May Not be as Impossible to Keep as You Think
It was recently Ditch New Year’s Resolutions Day on January 17th. On this day, people are motivated to break or even completely give up their resolutions. This day can give a break to all of the people who feel guilty or stressed about the difficulty of keeping their resolutions.
One of the reasons it is so hard for people to keep their resolutions is False Hope Syndrome. Often times people miscalculate the time or ease at which it takes to accomplish their resolution. When there aren’t immediate rewards to the resolutions it’s a lot easier to give up on them. This ties in with another reason why people fail to fulfill their resolutions. People tend to choose enjoyment over the need to keep their resolutions. In other words, they choose to do what they want over what they should be doing. This is because we distance ourselves from the things we should be doing by associating them with guilt or shame but not decisive emotions that motivate us to accomplish them. The word “should” is also a noncommittal word. It implies a possibility, but not a committed action. However, we needn’t be so hard on ourselves when we slip up on our resolutions, because at least there’s one thing we don’t give up doing: making those resolutions in the first place!
Why is it that we time and time again make resolutions that we historically have been known not to keep? One of the reasons is tradition. Every year those around us begin talking about what their New Year’s Resolutions are going to be once December comes around. Though they might not keep these resolutions for long, they’re still appealing because we have been making them for so long. More importantly, people choose to make resolutions because they want to better themselves. Repeatedly attempting to make resolutions shows how they still have hope for themselves and their ability to change each year.
It’s easy to get caught up in all your goals for the year and become discouraged by the amount you want to achieve. But don’t be discouraged because having hope for yourself and making resolutions is the first step to any success. If you go through life one day at a time and create smaller simpler goals along the way you can definitely achieve your bigger ones. The New Year is always seen as a way to start anew, and this year is also the new decade. Take this opportunity to not just start anew, but also to start fresh and positively to have the amazing year you want to have and now hopefully can achieve as well.
