By Ekaterina Marenkov (Contributor) – Email
Print Edition: January 7, 2015
On New Year’s Day, I saw a woman standing on the corner of a busy intersection handing out pamphlets instructing how to “Reinvent Your 2015.” Hung-over, I refused to stop and banter about the fruitlessness of her actions (all I wanted was my Starbucks coffee), but it did get me thinking about the entire phenomenon of New Year’s resolutions.
These “resolutions” have become a giant cliché in the western hemisphere, and nearly everyone gives up before results can be seen. Beginning January 1, everyone and their mom is at the gym, working off their gluttonous holiday behaviour, trying to mould their body into a shape that isn’t round — but it doesn’t last very long. Making “New Year’s resolutions” is just another typical, valueless, first-world fad that fails by the second week.
New Year’s resolutions ultimately fail because fear trumps good intentions. Procrastinators like me usually pin their self-worth on what they’ve achieved. I put off doing things like homework, relationships, and exercise because I’m terrified of failing. New Year’s gives procrastinators an excuse to try, but after January’s over, there’s still that commitment to changing yourself that is difficult to maintain. It’s easier to stay the same loser rather than risk the prospect of failure. So, why do we still do it each year if we know that we’re just setting ourselves up for defeat?
It’s the idea of a fresh start that tantalizes millions of people. At the end of each year we’re bombarded with all this “new year, new me” bullshit, and let’s face it: it’s enticing. The idea of a clean slate motivates us and gives us a reason to embark on changing our bad habits, even if it’s just the date that’s fresh. The problem with New Year’s resolutions is that it is difficult to retain that spark for longer than the sparkler you lit at midnight.
I propose an alternative: instead of composing that ambitious list at the end of every year, persevere every day. Don’t wait until the start of a new year to change your life, because if you wait too long you’ll start to feel like you did when you were a kid and you accidentally wet yourself and then just sat there for an hour rather than change out of your damp pants. Don’t sit there in your own urine this year. Be brave! Admit you peed in your pants, and then change out of them.
