Thursday 2 January 2014

New Year Resolution

What is a New Year Resolution?  - the name says it all, resolutions taken in the new year and forgotten soon afterwards. Why can't we resolve at other times? 
Wikipedia says - New Year's resolution is a secular tradition, most common in the Western Hemisphere but also found in the Eastern Hemisphere, in which a person makes a promise to do an act of self-improvement or something slightly nice, such as opening doors for people beginning from New Year's Day.
The name implies that it's intricately connected to New Year and that's why I do not like this idea too much. For one, this implies that we all have new year resolutions in the first week of January every year. If people really followed their resolutions resolutely (pun intended), they may not need to resolve the same thing year after year. You might argue that we do change our new year resolutions, but in such cases how many of those do you really fulfill. Well that's my next point of contention. Do not make a resolution for the sake of having one. Do act on those. Most people I know keep waiting for 1st January to embark upon their new mission which sounds ridiculous to me.

Few of my thoughts on this I shared on my social networks -
  • If u need to get something done in the first 10-15 days of January, make it your new year resolution. That's how long the resolutions generally last !
  • Stand up and raise your hands (both) if u are waiting for new year to do what u must. Now keep standing like that !
  • I resolve not to resolve !
Well I am not alone in thinking like this, few days later, Chess Grand master Garry Kasparov also echoed something similar in a series of tweets -



I am not against a New Year's Resolution, but only advocating that try to follow good habits irrespective of day/date other such constraints as far as possible. On that note, I wish you a very Happy New Year and may your resolutions be true and fruitful for you ! There's a saying in Hindi - "Jab jaago tabhi savera", which roughly translates to - Morning starts whenever you wake up !

Share your views in the comments sections.



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