Here we are again, another trip around the great ball of fire for planet earth, double- double digits. This occurrence is not likely to repeat in your lifetime, so a special sort of advice is required in this auspicious year.
By the time you read this article, you will most likely have already set your “New Year Resolution”, and broken it, 20 times over. I resolve to spend less time on my phone (you’re reading this on your smart phone). I resolve to exercise more (you’re reading this at your favorite fast food restaurant, dressed in your gym clothes). I resolve to run more (you ran alright, a few feet to your car to escape the rain). I resolve to read more (congratulations, you are nailing this one!).
The greatest error we commit when setting our resolutions is that we do not appreciate the fact that even the greatest TV show has filler episodes (greatest hits, musical, etc.) so does our life sometimes bear the resemblance of being ordinary. It is our greatest fallacy to assume that everything always goes according to plan, since we started from Go (Monopoly reference); We’ll roll the dice and end up on Mayfair, avoiding the pitfalls of jail and other less fortunate events. The moment we are hit with a curve ball, we revert to our older selves and just wish to do better the next time around, like we need our resolution to start from January 1 otherwise, it’s just not as magical. It no longer bears the markings of a resolution that happens once a year, but a decision we take at any point on a dull Tuesday (because Tuesday’s are nothing more than Monday Part II).
The build-up to the Times Square ball drop or the Burj Khalifa fireworks is a clear example of the unrealistic expectations we set for our resolutions. The countdown to that one second, the change from December 31, to January 1. Think of the anticipation and excitement echoed around the globe as people festively count-down the last seconds, and then ask yourself – what exactly are the counting down to? The first “Wooo!” of the New Year will undoubtedly last over 1 second, and then we are left with a cavernous emptiness. Until we realize, this second is repeated several times over the New Year (31.5 million times to be exact).
Much like sports have transcended from being a hobby/pastime to becoming a lifestyle, so too should our resolutions be equally malleable. The goal is not to lose X amount of kilograms in a month, or a year, but rather to cut out the temptations that lead to weight gain in the first place, such as the dreaded harbingers of bulk – the White Family (Sugar, Flour, Salt). It is not to suddenly become fluent in a new language, but to gradually add words to your vocabulary over the course of 365 days.
By raising the ceiling of expectation on how this year will be different, we set ourselves up for the fall from grace we always encounter in the first month of the year. We’re stuck on the adage of it takes 21 days to form a habit, and 90 days to build a lifestyle. However, no one ever said those days must start on January 1st!
Diets have cheat days, gyms have rest days, so too do resolutions have unresolute-days, where we can relax the reigns of expectation and accept that at times, we don’t want to save the world, change our figure or hit the books, we just want to sit in our PJs and binge-watch our favorite show whilst stuffing our face with the latest delectable food found in this Month’s Dining Guide!
Like the Rubik’s Cube, Ayman Nassar is multi- colored in his interests, from running to organizing races, stand- up comedy and internal audit, plus a little writing on the side. You can find him on Instagram @lordaymz. Photo by Julian Hochgesang on Unsplash.
