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A New Year’s resolution is a promise that you make to yourself to start doing something good or stop doing something bad on the first day of the year.
I have a problem with this definition. I need to continue doing what I’m doing… not change it and I don’t know that I am doing something, anything bad that I would have to resolve to stop. The implication is that you start or stop doing something, generally something that is unattainable. 40% of Americans indulge in setting these fixed resolves and most fail… miserably.
The fact is, a peer reviewed study has shown that 88% of people who make new year’s resolutions fail, while 56% of the same people feel their resolution is attainable. 22% of men and 10% of women are more often successful when instead of a resolution, they set attainable goals for themselves with milestones. Not necessarily complicated ones… but rather baby steps, such as saving a dollar a week instead of just saying, I want to save money in 2014, or losing weight or gaining (in my case) a pound of weight a week instead of a simple I want to gain weight. Both men and women have been shown to have better success when their resolution or goal is made public or shared with friends and family, which makes you accountable to them.
Talking to friends, family or whoever you have in your life that you trust. Telling them about your goals will make those goals real and almost tangible, while at the same time getting support and encouragement from that same group of friends and family to perhaps help you succeed.
In order to manufacture a new year’s resolution for yourself, you have to look at and criticize yourself, find your flaws or what is missing or what you have too much of, which in and of itself can be unhealthy. You have to look at yourself and think what’s wrong with yourself… then find what’s wrong, indulge in self-loathing, low esteem, depression, unhappiness, impatience and I think the biggest is a bad self-image. All of these create failure because the resolve may be unattainable since they are just words and not actions. This creates more self-loathing, low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, impatience, unhappiness and the distortion of your image in a mirror.
Resolutions such as these will, more often than not, result in failure: I want to lose weight, I want to get healthy, I want to eat healthy, I want to exercise more, I want to break bad habits, I want to quit smoking, I want to stop drinking, I want to stop wasting money, I want to save for retirement, I want to learn how to and maintain a budget.
Case in point… My friend, brother… let’s, for the sake of this disclosure call him, Mr Carverhall… just a few minutes ago he revealed his new year’s resolution to me (via facetime)… I had to ask.. but I got it out of him. He said… “I want to be wealthy”. I thought… OK… now he’s going to tell me how or for what he is to get wealthy. Is this just for the sake of being wealthy? What does he want to buy or give when he’s wealthy that he doesn’t already have or have given, besides a private jet timeshare? He tells me nothing… other than to cross some imaginary “class” line, which he has done and fails to recognize. Much of what he has, he cannot purchase with money even though he has it and the reverse is true as well as he is able to provide for his mom, who I love too. (besos los dos) To be getting married… (besos los tres) no date yet… no wedding planner. He gets to see me and/or my son Jason at least once or twice a week… sometimes for half the day. That alone should make him think to himself… I’m the wealthiest man in the world. But he doesn’t. I love him anyway… and I make sure I tell him.
WHAT IF you are on the right path? What if the path you’re on is already headed in the right direction? What if you don’t want to change a thing or your direction? What if 2013 (all things considered) was the best year of your life?
WHAT IF, when looking back at 2013 I think of nothing but good things, good experiences a personally fulfilling year on the grandest of scales, with the exception being a pulmonary embolism, but there was even good in that since I am breathing better than I have in years.
WHAT IF I realized I was truly happy for the first time in my life in 2013 and I still am. What if I felt loved for the first time in my life in 2013 and still do. What if I started learning how to both accept and share love, nurturing and affection for the first time in my life in 2013. 🙂 I have a Mom for the first time in my life and I got her in 2013 when she chose me for adoption with five simple words that instantly healed a very lunch chunk of me. I have an entire family and I got them on June 11, 2013 with my mom when the judge stamped and signed the adoption decree. My family gives me more in a day than I thought I would ever receive in a lifetime. Even if nobody says a word. It’s almost overwhelming, but I’m just going with the flow that started in 2013 and it’s still going. Thank you mom. I love you.
So, here’s the thing. I don’t need no stinkin’ New Year’s Resolution. Things will be just fine without one.
My son sent me an image with some text asking me to write it down because he was on his iPhone… huh? He never told me what to do with it so I’ve been sitting on it since New Year’s Eve. I don’t think it was for me… it was probably for his love interest, but most of it works for me… Thank you Jason. I love you, my son.
“Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.
Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn’t cost a cent.
Remember, to say, ‘I love you’ to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.
Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.
Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.
And always remember, life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by those moments that take our breath away.” [George Carlin}
The year 2013 really made life worth living for me because of the people that are in my life every day. I love every single last one of you. You help give my life meaning. You give me a reason to live. And it’s good to be alive. Don’t need a New Year’s resolution for that and my life is not a review.
References: [Me, My Mom, My Son, Mr. Carverhall, Richard Wiseman, Frank Ra, George Carlin, Wall Street Journal]
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