New Year’s Day, otherwise known as the first day of January, is a day that we typically look forward to. With a new year comes new opportunities, new adventures, friendships, a new list of things to look forward to, and most importantly, the new year comes with a clean slate. A clean slate as in we all get a chance to make these things we call “New Year’s Resolutions” and make a vow for everyone to know what we intend to change in this new season. We’re going to do something differently, we’re going to make an improvement or do something we’ve always wanted to do and haven’t had the chance to do before.

What are resolutions, though and why are they so easy to promise, but so hard to keep?

New Year’s Resolutions don't just come from anywhere, though. In fact, the Babylonians started the tradition when they would make promises to their gods at the start of each year that they would return borrowed objects and pay back their debts. In Latin, the word ‘January’ means ‘door’ to imply that January is the door to the new year. Today, most New Year’s festivities begin on December thirty-first, which is the last day of the Gregorian calendar, and continue into the early hours of January first. A resolution is a firm decision to do or not to do something from that certain point-out.

For example, here are some common New Year’s Resolutions: lose weight, spend more time with family and friends, quit smoking, drink less, volunteer, get out of debt and save money, learn to let go of grudges, volunteer and give to charity, create/learn new hobbies, ‘fix’ any ‘broken’ relationships and make new ones. These are just a FEW examples of commonly made promises aka resolutions, and as you can imagine, they’re also commonly broken just as quickly as they’re made.

Why is that?

It’s hard and that’s just the plain and simple truth. We tend to make more resolutions than we can keep and this is normally what ruins them for us. It takes hard work to change our lifestyle’s. We get comfortable and it isn’t to say that being comfortable is a bad thing, but it’s when we begin to be too comfortable that problems arise. So, having said that, here are some tips that I’ve found to be helpful and anticipate using to maintain New Year’s resolutions this year:

• Be realistic. Don’t overdo it and don’t set goals for yourself that you know you can’t achieve.
• Make a “pros” and “cons” list and use this to decide which goals are more reasonable and which ones you can actually see yourself achieving.
• Pick ONE. Just one. According to Forbes, we’re 10x more likely to follow through with something if it’s the only thing we have to do and we don’t feel overwhelmed.
• Talk about it. Of course there are some resolutions that should be kept private and that’s for you to decide, but if it’s something you could benefit from, you should always talk about. Find someone you trust (e.g. a close friend or family member) and share your resolution with them, so that they can hold you accountable and help you stay on track.
• Track your progress. Make a schedule and use a calendar to track your progress so you’re able to see how far you’ve come and what you have left to do. Everyone loves a little encouragement from time to time and what better way to experience that than to see how far you’ve come and how much you’ve changed.
• Reward yourself!! This doesn’t mean that you can eat an entire gallon of ice cream (sorry Sarah) if your resolution is to eat healthier. Instead, celebrate your success by treating yourself to something you enjoy that doesn’t contradict your resolution. If you have been sticking to your promise to eat better, reward yourself with a new workout outfit or new weights or whatever works for you, but for heaven sakes, just don’t eat the whole gallon of ice cream.

“You can make a wish or you can make it happen.” –unknown

Or, like my dad says all the time, “You don’t have to like it, you just have to do it.”