Time is a strange beast. From one perspective, it seems as if the year always goes by very quickly. Then when you think about specific details, you realize just how much actually happened in the year and think “wait…that all happened this year?” I wonder if this might be a human coping mechanism for keeping all those memories in place and remaining sane through the passage of time. Each person has experienced many, many things but most of these events are sort of ephemeral in our minds. Time seems quick until we pause and contemplate it.

Anyhoo, it’s that time of the year (…the beginning) which means people are making their “New Year’s resolutions.” As we all know and humorously accept that resolutions are made to be broken. By the 19th century, the tendency of resolutions to be forgotten within weeks or even days of the new year was being ridiculed in magazines. I find this quote (author unknown) on the subject from 1813 particularly enlightening:

And yet, I believe there are multitudes of people, accustomed to receive injunctions of new year resolutions, who will sin all the month of December, with a serious determination of beginning the new year with new resolutions and new behaviour, and with the full belief that they shall thus expiate and wipe away all their former faults.

Simply put, New Year’s resolutions serve as a sort of “confession” to the universe, an admitting of faults and striving to do better, but one that ultimately rings hollow for many. This might be because they are too lofty and unrealistic, requiring a change of self so extreme that it can’t be accomplished in a single year. There could also be too many resolutions. Someone could declare their intent to lose weight, stop drinking and smoking, reduce screen time, exercise more, and get out of debt all at once and end up doing none of those things, whereas if they had focused on just one or two, they would have had a higher chance of success.

The most important factor is, I believe, that resolutions are focused on new behaviors or changes that must magically come into effect at the start of a new year. It’s as if upon completion of a revolution around the sun, we decide to flip a switch in the brain: “on January 1, I will do the thing I always meant to do but haven’t had the time for. On January 1, I will stop partaking in this vice.” Rather than easing into a healthy habit gradually or creating a routine designed to avoid burnout, we immediately launch into “this is my year” mode when the clock strikes midnight.

Resolutions are better treated as renewals. The path of self-growth is one that we must constantly strive to walk for our entire lives, not on arbitrary dates with ridiculous goals that serve only to lessen our self-esteem and motivation.

What if, every new year, we resolved to recommit ourselves to self-improvement and improvement of our communities? To be kinder, to learn more, to give more, to listen more, even to simply be here in the present moment. To be aware of one’s feelings, thoughts, and surroundings without judgment. To dwell in the eternal now rather than that which we cannot change.

These are far more feasible goals because they are things we can practice in every waking moment of our lives. Focus on our breath, think about our words, deeds, and thoughts, actively contemplate what we’re engaging with in the world and online, take notice of the world around us.

Not only are they effective strategies, but the language and perspective shift from resolution to renewal mirrors the nature of reality, most especially change and impermanence. Every year, the Earth’s life cycles begin anew, evident in the unfurling of the seasons. In essence, the Earth is renewing its vow as one holistic, interdependent unit.

By drawing oneself inward and understanding our place in an interconnected world, more positive frames of mind will follow and thus, more difficult tasks we’d like to overcome or tackle in our lives will appear that much easier.