New Year Resolutions and the Avalanches of Reneging
It is the new year season. A time when we are in the business of wishing everybody in our circle a happy new year full of blessings and happiness. We also extend our warm regards of optimism for yet another annual feast of celebrating in 12 months ahead. And the web continues.
Another thing with the new year is the resolutions. We often start in very high gear with all the big things and dreams we want to achieve throughout the year. The only unfortunate thing is that we renege as soon as we start.
It is as simple as resolving to avoid chunk food in the year 2023 but deciding to do the last chunk meal on day one of the new year in the spirit of celebrating. By the second day of the year, we are comforting ourselves that we have always eaten the same food all along and we never died.
In quick succession, we promise ourselves to overcome some addiction battles we have had with us for a long time in the new year right from the first day. Unfortunately, in the new year spirit, we forget the very basics that overcoming addiction is not a science rocket and that it is something that needs a lot of effort and time as opposed to merely writing or voicing it.
While I grew up in the village, there was a common misconception that the first thing you did at the start of the year would mark your entire year. Much as it may sound like a myth (though it is) so to say, the psychological power that comes with it is immense.
No wonder breaking of resolutions on the first day or month for believers in such misconceptions births dire consequences as some tend to take it to mean their fate is predetermined and sealed and there is nothing they can do about it. Quite a brainwash.
But the fact is that you are what you believe. This means that what you are can change with your change of beliefs. The ripple effect will be a never-ending push of ourselves throughout the year to achieve those resolutions we have set or are setting for the year 2023.
In other words, reneging will not breed complacency in ourselves. Instead of falling into the habit of saying our destiny is blocked by whatever forces of darkness there are when we fall short of achieving our aims, we will pledge to give more trials or change the course of our actions as deemed best.
Let me reiterate as we merry in the birth of this new timescale in our lives as it happens year in and year out that resolutions are very important. I encourage you to write down your well-thought resolutions as early as now. Otherwise, you will only be happening to life as days go by.
The thing to consider keenly in the whole process is the quality of those resolutions. Be very deliberate with the quality as opposed to the quantity as we tend to fall for the latter as a way of security for excuses when we do audits at the end of the year.
We will look at the many resolutions we had at the start of the year and comfort ourselves that we achieved some of them irrespective of their priority or importance. So, what’s more important, achieving many low-priority random resolutions or achieving some very high-priority goals and setting the rest of the unachieved high-priority goals as the starting point in the following year?
In my second point, I would challenge you to do an audit of whatever you set out to achieve in the year past before you can begin to set up your goals for this new year. Prioritize the unachieved goals from last year which are very critical to your long-term goals. That done, add a few more for 2023 and remember the golden rule again. It is about quality and not quantity.
Falling short of our targets should not be an end in itself. I encourage you not to lose hope and live to try and keep going on. Remember the day we lose hope, we lose a part of life, and thus part of us stops living. Lose everything but don’t lose hope in 2023.
It is already the second day of 2023. Grab that pen with a paper and draw your yearly resolution road map of your year and find a trusted partner who can share theirs with you if possible as you share yours so that through this accountability partnership, you keep each other on track with your resolutions throughout the year.
I conclude by telling you that the second part of my title today – avalanches of reneging – should not sound as negative. Let it be a sweet paradox that when keenly considered becomes a challenge of motivation and hope. Reneging is human, but giving up because of that should never be part of our options.
All the best as you embark on the exciting journey of the new year 2023.
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I take this time to celebrate all of you our avid readers. Thank you for walking with us for six years now. As we strategically find our niche to meet your needs, we welcome your suggestions on topics that we should focus on for the year 2023 and the years to come.
Feel free to share your ideas with us at ndegegeoffrey@gmail.com and we will be glad to explore them.
Happy new year 2023. Wishing you well and nothing but the best.
