It is the start of a new year! We can finally kiss 2017 goodbye! With the beginning of a new year comes a beginning of our new selves. Many people, including myself, use the beginning of a new year to make some new year's resolutions. The most common of these is losing weight, working out, eating healthier. Actually, now that I think about it, New Year's resolutions are mostly just attempts at living healthier lifestyles. Man, gym memberships sales must always go through the roof in January. Whatever your New Year's resolution is, they always seem to end the same way; You end up giving up within the first month and getting a cheeseburger from McDonald's.
The entire idea is centered around how bad our lifestyles are and how we need to fix it, immediately. We are exposed to so many commercials, advertisements, and media posts stating that we should make the resolutions as soon as possible. People post on social media lists of things they want to change for the new year. Some even make decorative posters and hang them by their beds.
Why do we do these? Why do we believe that we have to make drastic changes in our lives the moment a new year starts? We use the start of a new year to try to completely change our entire lives in a blink of an eye. We believe that right when it turns midnight we become completely different people. The problem with New Year's resolutions is that they have little to no meaning in the grand scheme of things. We make unreachable goals, which we will eventually give up because, well, they're unreachable.
From one failed resolution to another, I have come to the conclusion that I don't even need a New Year's resolution. I don't have to make these impossible goals that are too far out of my reach. Then I won't get upset that I wasn't able to lose that twenty pounds this year that my body couldn't physically lose in the first place. I don't have to look at my life and find every negative aspect of it and try to improve every single one simultaneously.
Don't get me wrong, making positive changes in your life is a great thing. But we shouldn't put so much pressure on ourselves to make every positive change all at once. Our lives change every moment of every day. We can improve our lives, but we should only take it one step at a time. Change should come at its own pace. We don't have to put it off doing something progressive or positive in our lives until the beginning of a new year. And we shouldn't force ourselves into a state of drastic change that we simply aren't ready for.
A new year means a new start. We have the potential to wipe the slate clean, look back at all the good memories, and leave all the bad ones in the past where it belongs. We shouldn't feel obligated to resolve all of our issues the second a new year begins. You don't have to restock your kitchen with quinoa and kale, you don't have to read two books a week, and you definitely don't have to spend money on a gym membership you may or may not use. Just live your life, grow, and change on your own terms. It's all up to you and what and when you want to change. Don't let a new year scare you into eating a quinoa and kale lunch at LA Fitness after suffering on a treadmill for twenty minutes.
