5 REASONS NOT TO MAKE NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS

DECEMBER 31, 2013 CRISIS MENDER

I am just going to break them anyway
I always fail, so why try?
Resolutions just highlight that I’m doing something wrong or not good enough. Why do I need to remind myself of my current failures?
If I don’t fail, I will have to keep up the change all year. Who wants to work that hard?
I might actually like the change.

Can you relate to this thought pattern? I certainly can! Making resolutions to change really does reek of failure, past and present with a healthy dose of foreshadowed future. Do I need to remind myself that I fail every year, or that I fail in my everyday life? Not really. I have parents, snooty co-workers, and kids for that!

But the possibility of change is a strong lure. The possibility of improving something, no matter how small, is very attractive. I suppose I don’t have to tell anyone. I could just make the resolution and keep it to myself. That way my failure isn’t so public, but neither is my success. That’s okay. The changes are for me anyway, right? I am the one who wants them. I am the one who commits to them. I am the one who has the right to judge me—no one else.

So, if I decide to take the risk of failure, I also take the risk of success. If I take the chance of ending up back at the same place, I also take the chance of ending up somewhere different. That might make me a happier, healthier person. Who wants that? No, I should just skip the resolution and stay right where I am. It’s safer, even if I am a little miserable. Success is highly overrated anyway, right? Or maybe not.