resolutely against resolutions

It's become one of those things now. At first, someone just said, "Hey, it's the New Year, maybe I should do something with myself."

Now, though, everybody assumes you'll be trying to better yourself starting on 1/1/whenever. It's become a topic of conversation, like the weather: "So...any New Year's resolutions?" 

But, when you think long and hard about it, who has actually ever resolved a resolution? Nobody, that's who. That is, not when it comes to the big things, like working out, eating healthier, volunteering more, and the like. Oh, people do it, sure, but how long does it last? A week, a month? The point is, nobody can seem to integrate these goals into their lives. 

And why is that? Well, for starters, people simply don't have resolve. People want immediate results, and some vague promise of weight loss or broken bad habits (plus all that hard work) deters many. There are exceptions here and there, of course, but 90% of the time, the most determined I see people is when their favorite TV show is coming up.

Beyond that, the entire concept of the New Year's resolution is problematic. It falls under the American value of working only when we have to or when people are looking. A parallel example is Valentine's Day: many people opt to only do something big and romantic (or 'romantic', as is often the case) on Valentine's Day (or on birthdays or anniversaries) instead of, say, surprising the significant other on a random day. 

Similarly, people hold off on self-improvement until the New Year, when they can conveniently say that it's their New Year's resolution. That way, people will satisfy the question about their resolutions, feel better about themselves, and have something to work towards - for a little while, at least. 

The thing is, by waiting until the New Year to list out one's goals, the goals - even if you sincerely wanted to reach them - will become tied, on some level, to the notion that a) everybody else is making New Year's resolutions (and that, implicitly, your goal is just more of the same) and b) everybody else is breaking them, making it ok for you to break your resolution(s) as well. 

It's reached the point where the self-imposed question is no longer "How can I improve myself?" but rather "How can I look like I care about improving myself?"

And so, I say we do away with at least this one tradition. Turkey on Thanksgiving and family time on Christmas are good, but New Year's resolutions are pointless. If people actually wanted to change, they'd work for it, no matter what day of the year it was. 

My one New Year's resolution, then, is to not make any New Year's resolutions. 

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Damn it.