New Year does not bring magic

While I believe people mean well and have high expectations when they make them, I still say New Year’s resolutions are a waste of energy since they are hardly ever kept.

Think about it. When was the last time you made a New Year’s resolution and then followed through with it? Let’s look at the top ones.

How many of you have resolved to quit smoking? I’d dare say for many smokers, this will be the ump-teenth time you’ve had this resolution, only to go a few days or weeks before falling back into your old habit.

How many of you have resolved to get into shape and lose weight? There are a lot of people like this out there because I see a surge at the gym at the beginning of every year, a surge which dies out by March. Now, if you went to the gym for a couple of months and walked on the treadmill before letting your membership lapse, that doesn’t count as a successful resolution. It only counts if it sticks and I’ve already seen several go by the wayside just in the third week of the year.

There are literally thousands of common resolutions out there that are solemnly entered into every year. Heck, a couple of years ago, just as a test as to how easily even the simplest of New Year’s resolutions are broken, I made a resolution to wear necklaces. Sure it was silly, but also painfully simple. I even went out and bought a couple of necklaces and told friends this was my resolution. Come on, how easy can it be when stacked against things like losing weight and quitting an addiction? Well, I think I wore a necklace four times all year.

So why is it so hard to keep a resolution? It’s because all a resolution is, when you boil it down, is a way to put off something until the new year. If losing weight was so important to you, if quitting smoking was so important, if going to church was so important, if spending more time with your family were really so important to you, then you wouldn’t put it off until the new year, hoping that the dawning of the new year would have a magical effect on you.

Guess what, 2008 holds no magic over 2007. If you went to sleep with an addiction on New Year’s Eve, you woke up with it the following morning. And, if your addiction was alcohol, you also perhaps awoke with a hangover and perhaps wearing someone else’s shirt.

The fact we can’t keep resolutions doesn’t make us bad people. It’s only normal to dream of being able to conquer difficult tasks, only to fail. If nothing else, new year gives us hope, at least until we fall into the same old funk just days, if not hours, later.

For instance, I was addicted to dipping tobacco for years. There’s no telling how many cans of Skoal I threw away at various New Year’s parties, swearing it off in front of anyone who would listen, only to have them see the can in my back pocket days later. Then, I guess it was about five years ago, I got tired of looking at yellow teeth and having dragon breath, so I quit, cold turkey. I haven’t done it since. Oh, I still want a dip every now and then, I just don’t get one. All those resolutions didn’t do a bit of good until I decided I was quitting and then stuck by my guns. I haven’t the slightest idea what day it was, but it sure wasn’t New Year’s Day.

If I can quit an addiction I had for well over a decade, then anyone can. The same is true for something affirmative like getting in shape. If you apply yourself, it can be done. However, hanging your whole goal on the changing of the years isn’t only a crutch, it’s also dooming yourself to failure.

Duane Sherrill is a reporter for the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].