New year’s resolutions get a bad rap. It’s easy to try and fail and point fingers at ourselves. There are plenty of studies showing peoples’ success rate at sticking to resolutions, and the statistics probably aren’t pretty.
Sometimes we make it hard on ourselves, attempting resolutions that are outside our comfort zone and requiring change we think we want, but may not always be ready to effect.
That doesn’t mean new year’s resolutions can’t work – indeed, at least one study out of a U.S. university found that the success rate of adults who made resolutions was 10 times higher than the success rate of those desiring change who didn’t make resolutions.
We can make change any day, but if the idea of a new year offers new motivation, then we might as well be motivated. And if our resolutions have to do with self-improvement or making our community or the world a better place, then all the days we do succeed should be considered a series of small victories.
There are no rules around resolutions and not every one needs to be an everyday effort. We can and we do show the strength of our resolve by making the right choice at the right time, speaking up at the right moment, seizing the chance to make change when the opportunity is in front of us.
Who will any of us be in 2019? We’ll be the same, but a bit older and wiser. And if we want to be better or we want the world around us to be better, we can be the ones to make it happen and we can be the ones to resolve to make it happen.
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