Two days ago was the start of a new year. I peeked out the curtains to find a freshly-fallen, blanket of snow awaiting us. The trees were all covered in white since no winds were present. The temperatures held in the high 20’s yet with the morning sun, it felt much warmer than that.
I stepped outside to find that the snow was pure – not a single footstep of man or beast had intruded the area. I walked to the end of the front porch to look towards a cloudy sky that was being slowly forced out by a bright blue. A single bird floated in the sky high above. I truly wondered if some magic had happened over night when the clock struck twelve. It felt as if with the introduction of the new year, all of the troubles of the world had disappeared. But alas that is not the case. While our little corner of the world looked clean and pure, the world is the same today as yesterday.
As I was out for a run jog walk (everything was covered in ice), I gave most of my thoughts to this new year and how people watched it come in with high hopes and expectations. I thought about all of the New Year’s resolutions that had been made last night, and how long they would last. I thought about how we constantly hear complaints about the younger generation and wondered if our drive to create these resolutions might be part of the issue.
New Year’s resolutions started over 4000 years ago with the Babylonians. They made promises to their gods to take care of debts and such in order to have the gods do them a good turn. Today, the promises are more inward in hopes of improving ourselves. I wonder if the Babylonians had any better of results with their resolutions.
I have no issue with people trying to improve themselves either in health, work, family relations or others. The question I pose is why, 4000 years later, do we feel the need to hold all of these wants to change to a single day of the year. By doing this are we not setting ourselves up for failure? We hold the hopes that some magic will happen and that overnight, we will change. 
A few years ago, I took a leap and jumped off of the resolution bandwagon. I started making it a point to look at who I am each and every day. I still believe in making resolutions to become a better person, but I stopped waiting for that magically nanosecond between one year and the next. I make the plans, lay out the methods, and then start the work. The work. Every single resolution made by any person requires work not just dreams. However, since I tackle just one resolution at a time, I find that my chance of succeeding goes up. I can concentrate on just one thing at a time, and not have to worry about trying to forge ahead with multiple goals at any given time.
This method also helps me when I do stray or totally crash and burn on a given resolution. Having one goal at a time (or a couple) makes it easier to start again when I falter. In the past, I would break one resolution and then let it go hoping that the others would make up for the broken one. By February, like most people, not only had I broken most, if not all, of my resolutions, but they were totally erased from my thoughts. I lost interest in trying to make so many changes at one time. If I did have a moment where I thought about those unfulfilled promises, I promised myself to do better next year. Poof – the burden of failing was pushed off for 10 or so months. Now, since I do not rely on the calendar, I work every day on one or two goals.
As I pondered the whole premise of resolutions, I thought about our younger generation and how so many comment about how they want instant gratification and no work. While I do not believe this is true, let’s think about it for a moment. I do not place the blame on New Year’s resolutions, I do question what we teach our young people when we get them going on the whole make the next year better. We ask them to believe that by making resolutions, life gets better. We show them that we can make promises knowing that most of them will never be kept. We teach that it is okay to have good intentions and not to worry when we do not follow through. They learn that it is okay to let promises fall aside with the thoughts that they will do better next time.
It’s funny. While writing this, I just realized that we have never brought up New Year’s resolutions with our daughter. I do not believe that this was done intentionally; it just happened. When we have conversations with her, we ask how she thinks she is doing and if there is anything she needs to work on. Sometimes the answer is no – sometimes it is yes. We have accidentally taught her to work on those improvements as she notices the need. We have somehow avoided the magic of that Nano-second with her.
So today is January 3, 2017. I make a resolution to write more of my thoughts on paper. I resolve to write for me, and, while I share my writing, write without fear of comments or criticisms. I do not make this resolution because of horns and noisemakers, I make it because I realized today, I need to work on this.
I will still continue on the resolutions I made during the past year or two. The nice thing is that these are already becoming part of me. I have worked on my fitness. I am working on helping others, I am working on finding ways to be better. It is just a whole lot easier knowing that these are not new. I have been working them each and every day.
So Happy New Day to all. For it is each and every day that we are given the chance to start anew. May you succeed on whatever resolutions you made, and if need be, pick one for this month and spread the others out. May you find success in so many ways over the next 365 days.
Thank you for meandering with me today and for the last 365 days,