Each holiday has its own traditions. July 4th barbecues. Thanksgiving turkey. Christmas gifts. Making resolutions for the New Year as it arrives. One of the definitions of resolution, found on the web, “is a firm decision to do something”.
Over the many years, we promise much to ourselves at the beginning of each New Year. Promises we don’t usually keep with ourselves. We forget them soon after any attempt we make to start.
Our resolutions sound bold & life changing. We proclaim them with an energy of excitement. Stating them on the New Year amplifies their importance.
Sadly they leave us deceived and empty. For New Year’s resolutions are never made with a “firm decision to do something”. They are merely statements of aspiration. We wish to achieve this or that.
Declaring something will happen is not the same as making it happen. It never is. Building new habits while discarding the old, trying things we may be uncomfortable with doing, taking one step forward and three steps back in trying to bring to life what we resolved to do is never thought of as we welcome in the New Year. Resolutions should be a precursor to activity and not the end result.
The clinging of glasses with noisemakers filling the air with sound as we watch time march on, distracts us from the real work necessary to build our lives.
For its the day in/day out effort we put in consistently that moves us an inch at a time towards those things we value. No resolution can ever match the power that effort combined with consistency can have in our lives. Many call this discipline. Others might describe this as focus.
Whatever the words, enjoy the excitement each New Year holds. Rembering to never confuse a resolution with accomplishment. For if you do, it will be as if you are grabbing at air. Leaving you nothing to show for it in spite of the excitement you felt when stating it.