Happy New Year! We’re in the time of new beginnings where we’re feeling refreshed and ready for what the upcoming year has in store for us. Also during this time, we decide to set goals for ourselves that we want to uphold. We call these “new year’s resolutions.” However, many of these resolutions fizzle out within a few short months.
Season 7, episode 13 of “The Office” is an episode all about the team picking and working on new year’s resolutions. Pam, the office administrator, creates a board where they can all write their resolutions on for everyone to see. The gang doesn’t seem to take it too seriously and have little motivation until Pam says, “most resolutions are abandoned by February.” Eventually, the gang heightens their motivation and tries to help one another in ways that don’t really help. With the help from my favorite show, here are some of the biggest new year’s resolution fails.
We all know that exercise should be a part of our daily routines. It not only keeps us healthier physically but also mentally. It may be hard to get ourselves motivated to get to the gym, but when we finally do, we feel so much better about ourselves. After January 1st and making the resolution to work out more, we might go three times a week, but because of time management skills and not having the right mindset, that will probably dwindle to once a week to none.
Eating right is another big resolution fail. One of the reasons why is because some people don’t know enough about nutrition to know what their daily intake of nutrients should be. Another reason is because people may cheat and indulge in one of their favorite unhealthy snacks which progress until they stop their resolution altogether. Kevin from “The Office” is known for his unhealthy eating habits and being overweight. He sometimes plays a game to see how many M&M’s he can fit in his mouth at once. He made a resolution to eat more vegetables but didn't follow through until Michael forces him to. “I said that I would eat more vegetables and I haven’t yet, but it’s okay because I still have time since last year I ate none.”
Next are the unrealistic resolutions we sometimes set for ourselves. To actually excel at your set goal, you have to make sure you are capable of doing it or that it is something that is under your control.
There are a few examples from “The Office” for this one. Kelly is known for being high maintenance and loving all the eyes on her.
Creed is about 80+ years old. He is known for 1. being old and 2. not really knowing what’s going on. Even though he is so old, he still likes to try to be youthful in the office. His new year's resolution is to do a cartwheel, which isn’t very realistic based on his age.
Meredith is known as the alcoholic of the group. She keeps bottles of alcohol in her drawers at work and has gone to rehab a plethora of times. Meredith's resolution isn't very realistic in her case, although it would be extremely beneficial to her.
It is great to have goals set for yourself that you want to achieve. During this new year, we need to remember to set realistic resolutions that we know we can achieve. Setting goals that are too high to reach can make us discouraged and unwilling to try later. Be like Pam who made a resolution to drink less caffeine or Darryl who wants to read more or even Michael...