Forced Resolutions

As advertisements chime of New Years weight-loss plans, the clean slate, fresh, start, go-get-em January I've been thinking about the whole "New Year's" traditions, and I have to confess, though I love any excuse to celebrate a holiday, for me New Year's is not all that special. Perhaps it's all the over-hyped booze and smooch pressure of the never-as-perfect-as-you'd-dreamed New Years Eve parties, or the feelings of inadequacy I often feel as our culture rips us from our comfort zones of family and friends at Christmas and launches us into one where we contemplate all the negative things about our lives and once a year admit that we suddenly (and often drastically) want to change them.

Sorry if I seem down on somebody's favorite holiday, and please don't take this the wrong way: I do like starting fresh and enjoy it when people feel hopeful about a new year, I just don't think goals should be forced or made in bursts of commitment. True goals and steps towards improvement really need to be made all the time, with baby steps, and when a person is ready and sincerely resolved to make a change and stick with it. New Years may be that time for some people, but I've never felt the positive momentum and energy that I like to have when setting a goal and trying to achieve it.

I think I feel more guilty than anything, especially when I look at unaccomplished goals from years past, or hear comparisons of resolutions made. We've probably all been annoyed with the "I can't have that now, I'm on a new diet this year" people or we've felt like giving up instead of fighting the influx of bodies clamoring for machines at the gym. Not to say that I am not guilty of contributing to these trends myself, but you've got to admit it's a bit aggravating. Sometimes this ritual of making resolutions feels like a public confessional: "Forgive me New Year, for I have sinned. It has been 1 year since my last resolution and I would like to share with everyone that I think I need to lose weight, should try to get a promotion this year, am lonely so I need a boyfriend, must tighten my boat-sized butt, etc, etc, etc..."

It's just not for me. I much prefer the tortoise-method when it comes to resolving to make a change in my life: Slow and steady...