3...2...1... Happy New Year!" said America.
"New year, new me!" said America.
"This year will be different!" said America.
"LOL, you wish," said 2017.
Friends, countrymen, I truly hate to be the bearer of bad news. However, I feel it is my duty to inform you all that the arrival of 2017 has, unfortunately, failed to erase any mistakes made in the year prior and deliver the endless bliss expected. Authorities are currently looking into the malfunction.
Jokes aside, it is quite baffling how much pressure Americans have started putting on the New Year to be better than the previous. We draw out these elaborate plans for everything we want to accomplish in the coming 365 days and call them our "new years resolutions", the word resolution itself suggesting something we feel should change something that is unsatisfactory about ourselves. Lose weight, drink less coffee, eat out less, stop biting your nails, find a significant other, be more organized. The list is endless.
Have Your Voice Heard:Become an Odyssey Creator
I bet if you were to ask any one of those January 1st go-getters why they feel the need for the change, you'll probably get the same answer: to be happier. I know that's what I was saying last year on December 31st, 2016, when I promised myself I was going to lose the ten pounds that had magically appeared on my body my first year of college. It was something I wasn't proud of, something I wanted to change, and I was convinced I'd be happier if I did.
Slowly but surely, I reached my goal, but the finish line wasn't exactly as glamorous as I had expected. I was in better shape, but I wasn't any happier. The elliptical workouts were dreadfully boring and I missed pizza so much I would have dreams about it. But hey, I made it. Now what?
As the winter months approached, I reflected a bit more on the past year. I slowly realized that my resolution forced me to do things I didn't want to, just so I could get it done by December and not feel like I had failed. It put me in a mindset where, even after I had reached the finish, I felt the need to improve other aspects of my life. I wanted to do everything 'better', but I was blind to the fact that none of it was going to lead me to that place of happiness. I have since learned that I was on the wrong path the whole time.
You see, we have been taught by the world to think that success guarantees happiness. If we are not happy it is because we have not done enough and there are still things to be improved upon. This is why January 1st brings so much promise to us, because it gives us a clear 'start-and-finish' to measure our success. So why does it often leave us feeling empty?
Well, if there is anything calculus taught me (other than that I was truly awful at it), is that if you can't solve an equation the way it is written, reverse it. Happiness guarantees success. Skip all the "resolution" mumbo-jumbo and get to the real solution, and simply do more of what makes you happy, whatever that may be. Spend more time with your kids, travel somewhere on your own, learn to tango. I promise it is as simple as it sounds, no catch!
Once you figure out what makes you happy, the rest will become a piece of cake. The best part? You can eat that piece of cake, because you're not on that weird, New Years Pinterest diet you found.
