I’m a firm believer in New Year’s Resolutions. As the year is drawing to its close, I’ve spoken to a few people about resolution-making and noticed that there’s a wide variety of opinions to be had on the matter, ranging from appalled at the idea and the whole humdrum surrounding it, to people who never let a 31st go by without writing down a list of things to remember the coming year.
What people hate about it is the fact that making resolutions is just one possible source more of letting themselves down. Drafting up a list of all the good things to do next year, imagining all the achievements and successes that are lying in store; loosing that amount of kilograms, finally taking up gardening or guitar lessons (or in my case: finally writing that book) and then seeing those big bubbles rapidly dissolve into dreary nothingness when every-day life kicks in and we notice that we don’t actually have the time to do all those things we planned on doing.
But.
What kind of shitty excuse is that? It’s not like Alexander the Great said: “I kind of would really like to build the biggest empire of our time but what if I fail half-way through? Best not bother then lol.” And I’m pretty sure Albert Einstein didn’t think to himself: “I just knowwww there’s this thing about relativity that I could probably solve, but I guess I’d better not try in case I should make a fool of myself.”
Human-beings are bound to disappoint others during the course of their lives. I think we’ve come to accept that. But we’re also bound to disappoint ourselves sometimes. And that’s okay. How boring would life be if we never dared wanting something for ourselves just because of the naked fear of not measuring up to those expectations?
So, I challenge all of you four people reading this to come up with three things that you really want for yourself this year. It doesn’t have to be something that takes a lot of time, maybe you just tell yourself to waste less time in front of screens or to think each day about something that you’re grateful for – it can be anything! And hopefully you’ll stick with it and it’ll make your life a little bit brighter, and if not then that’s no reason to be upset, either. There’s always next year. I just think it’s healthy to stop and think about myself from time to time and take inventory of all that I am and all that I am not, and then try to become more of the person that I want to be.
Happy New Year(‘s resolution making)!
Also, since we’re at it: One of my resolutions is to write every single day this year and to post on here at least every week. Wish me luck (and plz don’t come sprinkling salt into my wounds with this, should I not make it thx).