Resolutions

The staff at the gym was surprised when I approached them after three long months, I was going to renew my membership. The guy behind the counter smiled and asked me if the renewal is part of my new year’s resolutions. I replied that I only wanted to shed off the holiday weight.

I don’t know where his scoff came from. It might be from the fact that nobody believes in new year’s resolutions anymore. It’s a messed up thinking that our teachers force us to write at the start of the year, when we all go back to class. It is a psychology tool that fools you into thinking that you can change for the better when you really can’t. Unless there is enough willpower.

Back then, I used to believe in resolutions, but I found out they aren’t real at all. So how do we make one real change for the year? The determination to make this year a better one will get you by. Resolutions are just things that you write on paper and forget, but action coupled with determination will last you long even until the next year.

Why are we so desperate to change many things within us as the year starts? Because there has been so much hurt and pain in the year that passed? Of course, we don’t want that with us. We want to move on to a new year that is full of hope and positivity. I guess this is something we shouldn’t announce publicly but instead just secretly accomplish ourselves.

If you ask me, I still can’t decipher what I want to leave behind in 2019. Well, maybe my impatience and my stubbornness - but then again, these traits make up who I am. There is a thin line between change and the person you have always been. Maybe the secret to have a happy new year is to hold your head up high, tomorrow is a new day. We can always make new things beautiful.

So to those who have made their resolutions, that is fine. If it works and you are slowly accomplishing them, that is good. But when it is not, try to look for something else. Better, have that willpower so you may have strength to gather. Hold on to things that make you stronger.

If you ever have a similar experience such as mine at the gym, say you are aiming for healthy goals. The word resolution is already too obscure and overused to some extent. Be mindful of goals for the year - those ideal and doable for the next 12 months or so. Those that are not predicted by zodiac signs. Good luck with that.