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Thoughts About the New Year.
by Kelly Croslis New Year’s Day; to many it brings the idea of new beginnings, new dreams, and a new chance for so many things. At this time of year we sit and write everything we want to do in the coming year. Writing list after list of hopes and dreams, with each one we know that the chance of seeing it through is very slim.
Why do we do this each year? I believe it is mostly tradition. We spend the last couple weeks of the previous year going over the last 12 months and thinking of what we should have done differently and thinking of what we want to do better in the coming year. Do we really think that a new day, a new number, a new year, will truly make us different? Turn our lives around. Surprisingly enough we do. We start off with good intentions, I’m sure – but by March we have all but forgotten the dreams we had only three months ago.
The health club memberships expire, exercise equipment becomes a good clothes hanger and writing the ‘great American’ novel is long forgotten. I think the solution to this phenomenon is that we do away with New Year’s resolutions. I have learned over the years that they can do more damage than good. They cause depression and frustration when we put ourselves up against an unattainable quest.
Many years ago, I believe it was for my 30th birthday, I began what I call now “My New Year.” On my birthday each year I look at where I’ve been, where I’m going, what I’m grateful for – like another year of life. I’m not jumping on the band wagon with everyone else and the expectations are not there if I fail at my resolutions. It’s private and I can be a little more real with myself and hope for things that a little more attainable and realistic. It’s not to say that resolutions made at midnight on New Year’s Eve do not work, for many the New Year brings much and promise, but sometimes it also a false hope.
I believe the true resolution is made each day. We make the decision to wake up and live, to smile, to pray, to be part of the world. Each day brings new dreams and challenges; they don’t only come on January 1st. Every day is a new beginning. If we look at it that way, New Year’s resolutions would be a novelty and not give so many people unnecessary stress.
So, think of what the New Year can bring to you, but don’t stress about it. January 2nd is a new day, as is each day after that, life changes, our dreams change, and we need to give ourselves the space to change with it.
Happy New Year.
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Kelly is a stay-at-home-mom to 3 busy teenage girls. After moving around the country with her husband for the last 15 years, while he has served in the U.S. Navy, they are looking forward to joining the 'civilian world' later this year. She has been writing for several years, having several works published in Poem Anthologies.
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