Happy New Year’s Eve Hub family! As we reach the end of 2023, this time brings reflections of the past and also aspirations for the future. Many of us tend to look back at the highs and lows of our year, the lessons we’ve learned and the strides we’ve made. While the ups and downs are a general part of life, New Year’s brings the process of examining them within a 365-day time frame to decide whether or not you had a successful year.
We all know it’s popular to make New Year’s resolutions or goals to accomplish whilst welcoming in this new projected era of life. It’s also popular to not accomplish them. According to Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business, only about nine percent of Americans actually achieve their New Year’s resolutions. Why is this? Maybe because the goal isn’t as serious as it is a holiday tradition, or maybe it’s because it’s something too long-term that requires more attention than you can really give. Regardless, it always seems like at the beginning of the year, we put on this heavy pressure all of a sudden to become this new and improved version of ourselves, and when it doesn’t work out this just brings more self criticism.
So my question is, do New Year’s resolutions really work? With a nine percent success rate, it doesn’t seem like it. We can’t perfectly map out life, so how can we expect to achieve certain goals with such a strict deadline? Many of us have jobs, families, etc that we have to put most of our energy and time into. Are we sabotaging ourselves with hefty resolutions we can’t commit to or are we just not committed enough?
I say this not to sound negative but to question the true purpose of this holiday tradition that perpetually leaves me disappointed. What’s the point? We can make goals at any time of the year when we see fit to do so, yet there’s so much pressure to instantly accomplish something at the start of the New Year. The first two weeks in January are always the busiest time for gyms because so many people set goals to get in shape or lose weight, but then the hype dies down and we’re back to regular programming.
I think looking into the next year, it’s important to not just be self-critical with your intentions you set but instead have gratitude for how far you’ve come. Just because you may have not accomplished everything you wanted in this last year, it doesn’t mean time is up, there’s just more time to perfect what you want to accomplish. If you do set a resolution that you want to commit to, give yourself grace. Take things one step at a time instead of jumping head first into a new routine that will burn you out in two weeks. Make a plan that is attainable.
Wherever you’re at today, you got this! Let’s all enter 2024 with grace and gratitude instead of discouraging ourselves with poor planned resolutions that fade out. Give yourself time, and if that time is longer than a year that’s okay too and doesn’t mean you’re a failure. Time is a man-made construct and this is just another year. Set your own time. See you all in 2024!
