Modern Hill Woman

New Year, New You

New Year’s resolutions are about hopefulness.

They’re a way to appraise what we want for ourselves, a means of cataloguing our personal dissatisfactions, and a method of erasing the errors of the past year.

Some of the more popular resolutions are: losing weight/eating healthier/getting fit, drinking less alcohol, spending less/making more money, finding a better job, getting more education and managing stress.

About half of New Year’s resolutions make it through January. Failing New Year’s resolutions is so common, there are dates set aside to commemorate them. Jan. 17 is “Ditch New Year’s Resolutions Day.” The second Friday of January is “Quitter’s Day.” Quitter’s Day recognizes those who set goals and failed to achieve them, and encourages and equips them to try again, and ultimately succeed.

Instead of setting lofty goals that begin on Jan. 1, perhaps practice achieving them. You have permission to fail, and even learn from your failures, thus building confidence. Failure is the natural result of striving to achieve something challenging.

Benjamin Franklin, America’s first self-help guru, pioneered a habit change model that was way ahead of its time. While still a young man, he came up with what he called his “bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection.” He set out to master 13 virtues including temperance, frugality, chastity, industry, order, and humility to name a few. Franklin applied a little strategy to his efforts, concentrating on one virtue at a time. He compared this approach to that of a gardener who does not attempt to pull all the weeds at once, but one bed at a time. He never claimed to reach moral perfection, but did say he saw some of his faults diminish.

As for my own resolutions, I set them on a daily and weekly basis, and often fail on a daily and weekly basis. But I will persevere and weed one bed at a time.

If I had to declare a resolution, it would be to travel more in 2024. Happy New Year!