The time has begun for the timeless tradition of making promises you may or may not keep. The difficult question comes around: Should I make a New Year’s resolution? After the chaos of family, fun, food, and more during the December holidays, people are greeted by the looming New Year and the pressure to make New Year’s resolutions.
I am all for traditions and celebrations. I tend to even enjoy them. However, my problem is not with the celebrations of a new year, but with the social pressure to comply with the standards of resolutions. A lot of social pressure comes from what kind of resolution one makes. Resolutions can be creative, fun, and uplifting, but they can also be self-critical, discouraging, and impossible to uphold. On social media, people talk about their resolutions and share their progress. On one hand, it is nice to see how people are making positive change and it is refreshing to see the good in people’s lives, in resolutions such as fitness goals, expressing creativity every day, and taking self-care more seriously. On the other hand, it can be discouraging to see people set and meet changes in their lives that can be harmful, such as aspiring to fitness to an unhealthy extreme, and buying into diet culture.
Why wait to make a change? Why wait until a whole new year to help change your life? Most lifestyle changes can be implemented into your life at any time. Alas, humans tend to like new beginnings and starting over. We tend to want to start fresh and feel like we have accomplished something in a specific time frame, like a new year. Starting a new year with new goals can be refreshing, but life is not just increments, and you can choose to make and reach new goals whenever possible.
As long as you know what you are doing, having an attainable New Year’s resolution is a great idea! As long as you are not conforming to societal pressure and making yourself work for unattainable standards or goals, a New Year’s resolution can be constructive. Working on yourself can always be beneficial, but so is knowing you can always make a change whenever you want, and not only at the start of the year.
