Hannah Karpinski
The school year of 2011-2012 has been zooming past, and after a (not nearly long enough) winter break, the New Year has hit us like a slap in the face: quick, surprising, and rather painful. Our holiday dinners that once sat heavy on our stomachs are now sitting heavy in the waistband of our jeans, we’re all dreading getting back into the swing of school, and with a long winter still ahead, our moods are nowhere near “jolly.”
So, with so many things that need improvement, the New Year is—surprise, surprise! —a time for New Year’s resolutions. If you’re feeling unfulfilled, making resolutions will inevitably solve all of your problems, and by the end of the year you will have fixed everything, right? WRONG. Next year you’ll be in the same place, wondering what resolution you can make to ensure you don’t have another mediocre year. New Year’s resolutions never succeed, and end up leaving you feeling deeply disappointed.
Some people want to go green and reduce their carbon footprint, others want to organize their life and do better academically. These are only two examples of the many resolutions people make at the stroke of midnight on January first. However, they are based on what you think you should be doing, and not necessarily what you want to be doing. Most of the time, there’s no motivation behind your decisions either, and the timing is all wrong. It’s cold and gross out, and I know that in the dead of winter, all I want to do is curl up in front of the TV, drink hot chocolate, and nap the days away.
Take lifestyle resolutions for example: one of the most common things people resolute to do is to watch what they eat and maintain a healthy diet. Sure, it works… until you end up following the aroma of Cinnabon whilst walking into the Eglinton subway, and begin drooling, completely hypnotized by the swirls of icingy goodness. Then after sucking the icing of the first delicious bun off your fingers, you start thinking, “How can one more make a difference?” until you’re scarfing down Cinnabons on a daily basis and the thought of a healthy diet is pushed out of your head. Come December, you’re neck-deep in plum pudding and fruitcake, and your old resolution never crosses your mind.
Since it’s only January, I’m sure those of you who have made resolutions are doing pretty well. But, resolutions are really just procrastination in disguise. They’re made to motivate you, but let’s be honest with ourselves. Who can commit to something like 30 minutes of jogging every morning before school, when you can sleep an extra 30 minutes and catch up on the sleep you lost due to that massive science test you were studying for?
So if you’re the type to make New Year’s resolutions, I advise you to save some time this year and avoid it all together. Sure, at first resolutions can be exciting and promising, but in the end you’ll just let yourself down. Instead of setting one huge, unrealistic goal, set lots of little ones, or don’t set any at all and enjoy each day without trying to change it drastically. The only resolution I’m making this year is to stop making silly resolutions.