New Year, New Me?

There are thousands of clichés surrounding New Years and the resolutions that people always seem to make; ‘new year new me,’ ‘page 1 of 365;’ but are resolutions something that really matter? I personally make resolutions every year because I feel that it is important for a person to have goals to strive towards. If someone doesn’t have any goals for themselves, they have no motivation or feelings of success or failure. When I make resolutions, I feel that it is important to stick to them. The goals we set for ourselves during the New Year take a certain amount of self-reflection and honesty in what we really want for the future. If life truly is about the journey and not the destination, shouldn’t we strive to make ourselves the best we can possibly be along the way? This is one of the many reasons why I think that New Year’s resolutions are such a good thing to practice. Even though many people aren’t able to stick to the resolutions they make, they are at least making a conscious effort to change themselves for the better; even if someone only eats salad at lunch for a week, at least they ate healthy in that week and had a small success. I think that’s the key to keeping with resolutions; celebrating the small successes and triumphs. Maybe you did cave last night and eat half a tub of ice cream, but you also got up early to work it off by running for an hour. Celebrate that you had the motivation to go running. I think another important thing about resolutions is that we help each other out when we may be struggling. For example, many people that frequent gyms complain about the increase in traffic in January. However, I think it is important that instead of shunning and condescending people who have perhaps struggled with their health in the past and are now making an attempt to better themselves, those with experience help and boost these people along their difficult journey. Even if you don’t make resolutions at New Years, it is still a great time to reflect on the last year and look forwards to what’s coming in the future.