Adopt Fitting Resolutions

Nishtha Shrestha

If you had a chance to change your past, what would you change? In his book, Midnight Library, Matt Haig explores this question with a character who wants to change her present life. With the arrival of New Year,  similar to the character in the book, many are likely to recollect and desire a chance to change their past.  This wish manifests into resolutions that attempt to make up for the mistakes and lost opportunities identified by the person. While it is worthwhile to evaluate one’s progress, it is unproductive when it leaves the person with regret and disappointment with the current situation. 

It is tempting to think that life would have been better if one made a different choice. This line of thinking might provide temporary relief but it makes the person a prisoner of the past. Hypothetically, if we can alter our past, will we be able to change all the variables that were involved when the event occurred? The same also applies to people who constantly think of the future. In an attempt to be on the safe side, the person fails to enjoy the fruit of his/her hard work. This leads to feelings of dissatisfaction and low self-worth which ultimately keeps the person in a state of unhappiness.  The trend of resolutions appears to negatively affect these two groups the most as they make plans either to correct their past or to secure their future. 

When a year ends, we realise the passage of time.  Until then, we carry on with our lives unbothered by the 24-hour cycle. A part of this dread of losing time can be attributed to marketing schemes. Capitalising on the fear and regret of the consumers, advertisements for gyms and organic food increase at the end of the year. Exercise and healthy food are essential throughout the year yet their importance is advertised excessively by the companies around the last month of the year. The promise of the new year is sold in an attractive package and the above two groups who are already emotionally vulnerable during this time, fall prey to the various schemes and take up these offers without careful consideration.

It is not wrong to choose the New Year as a point of change. Resolutions are positive habits or commitments to motivate the person to make better choices. If a simple statement helps a person to improve their life, then one is free to create and modify such resolutions every year. But one needs to remember that the goal of a resolution is neither repentance nor apprehension. Habits make a person. These resolutions are only a push to develop a habit. Apart from this, we need both discipline and effort to sustain the habit we wish to adopt for the year. It is a wise decision to adopt resolutions that suit one’s lifestyle rather than follow the trends. And if one is still in a dilemma to pick a resolution for the next year, one habit worth adopting is to reflect on one’s life with kindness. This alone will help to eliminate the negative emotions attached to this man-made yearly division of time.