Why I Do Not Make New Year's Resolutions:
I know a lot of people make New Year's Resolutions. They do this to create a new life, or new life's goal for themselves. Maybe they feel they need a change for the new year. Maybe they want to improve upon a goal they previously set and attained, and now want to fine-tune it. That is fine and dandy if you are one of many that does. On the flip side, there are some, like myself, who do not, and for good reasons.
The reason I do not set any New Year's resolutions is by no means because I think they are pointless. It is because I find them to be a bit too much. One usually makes goals whether it's New Year's Day or not. Why plan new goals to start on the first day of the year that you plan on doing anyway? What if you set them to begin within the first week of January and not accomplish them in the time frame you wanted? Now here you are, left with the guilt or annoyance of not accomplishing your goal you only invented for the New Year.
Now do I set goals for myself? Of course I do. If I had not set any, I would not have accomplished any schooling I put myself through. I would not have managed to work the jobs I did and do, pay for my own things, own my own car, or pay on my student loans (even though I wish that it did not have to be as expensive as it is).
Sometimes I think about the goals I have made and accomplished. I think about ones I have made that I did not accomplish. For example, I started out in Forensic Investigations. Back at that time, I was married. My ex husband threw a fit and did not agree with it. So I stopped that goal when I should have ignored him. But I did finish my Associates in History and English with Languages. Then later my Bachelor's in English and History with Languages. The time of year had nothing to do with my goals. It had nothing to do with how hard I worked on them. It had nothing to do with why I turned away from a few of them. I made those goals for myself. I did them of my own accord, even down to my choice to stop my first goal over an opinion that should not have mattered. Not for “the popular, in-thing” to do for a New Year holiday.
So my advice, set goals if you want on New Year's Day to start. But be mindful of what those goals are. Are you doing it because it is tradition, or because you truly want to work on them? Then look at the pros and cons of them. Make sure they are worth it. Last but not least, you do not have to use the holidays to determine if you make goals for yourself. Do it anytime of the year. That way if it takes longer to achieve goals you planned for that glorious first day of January, it will not possibly become a disappointment to you later. Holidays should not determine what, when, and why of your goal-making desires.
