New Year's Resolutions

Don't lie to yourself, you know that you have them. Somewhere, buried deep within your room, is a list, with the title 2014 Resolutions scrawled across the top of the page in your familiar handwriting. You can joke about it all you want; about how no one ever keeps their resolutions, how everyone ends up making the same resolution just about every year. You can claim that you don't have any.

But I know. You're secretly planning to turn your life around this year. Don't even try to lie to me. I can tell.

I don't know how many times I've written, somewhere in my journal, that "stop procrastinating" was my New Year's Resolution. I think the longest I ever lasted was a week. One week, out of the whole 52.

What does it even feel like to accomplish a New Year's Resolution? Does it count as a failure if you quit after the year has ended? Does fulfilling your resolutions bring you to some magical, unicorns-and-rainbows place filled with happiness that teaches you the true meaning of life? Has anybody reached this glorious utopia?

Who even decided that January 1st was the perfect day to change your life? I can think of a million better days--your birthday, the first day of school, pretty much any given Monday of the year. January 1st is the one day of the year that most of the population is either hungover or sleep deprived--usually both. I don't think very many people will be all gung-ho about going jogging at 6 AM.

Resolutions are too sudden of a change. The word "resolution" makes me think that I have to change my life the very second the clock strikes midnight on December 31st. That's why so many people give up--you go from laying on the couch marathoning Netflix shows, pigging out on popcorn one day to running a 10k marathon the next. It's like whoever thought this whole concept up did it on purpose, to watch and laugh at us from afar as we try hopelessly to change our lives in the course of one day.

That's why, this year, I made two separate lists: one of "Resolutions"; habits of mine that I want to change or adapt to, and one of "Goals"; things that I want to accomplish this year. My resolutions are definitely smaller, and fewer than any list I've made in the past. My goals are long and plentiful, but that's okay. Because my goals aren't restricted to being accomplished by January 1st, or worked on every day of the year. I have a year from now to finish them, and finish them I will.

As for my resolutions, well...we'll see how that pans out.

What are your New Year's Resolutions?

Until later,

- Justyne