Kevin Blanchard Dot Com

I have not written an editorial style entry in a while. Though I was prompted to write this one after hearing a similar attitude from several of my friends in regards to New Years and making resolutions. “I don’t need a special day to make changes in my life”.

Now, I am not debating the total validity of that statement, as it is true to an extent. But I think it is something that looks better on paper then in real life. Before I explain my thoughts on this topic let me also state that, yes, I know most people break 1 or more of their New Years Resolutions before the end of January. One of the funniest New Years resolution “uh ohs” I heard was from a friend who said, “My resolution is to stop hooking up with my ex boyfriend”. I talked to her a couple weeks later in which she told me, “yeah I pretty much broke that resolution by 12:01am”.

There are more then enough people out there against New Years resolutions, so I will try to explain why I am a proponent of them.

I understand why a person may argue there is no one special day to get your life in order. But whether it was a resolution or something you’ve been working on for a while, how long have you been saying “I am going back to the gym!”, “next month I start my diet”, “Next year, I will only have chocolate every now and then”. Looks good on paper… but obviously we aren’t motivating ourselves during the year.

My thoughts on New Years resolutions are similar to my views on Valentines Day. Many will argue that’s it dumb to have a day aimed at showing someone how much you love them, because you should be doing it everyday. Again… looks good on paper, but far too often we get so wrapped up in the hustle and bustle of life, work, kids, bills, and before you know it, days, weeks, months have gone by and you realize you have not had a moment with the person you care about. With two working adults in the same relationship it is possible to sometimes go days without seeing the person you love, even living in the same house. I think Valentines day is still a good holiday (all the commercialism aside), for one simple reason. You have one day set a side. There is no job, no stress, no kids, no bills, just you and the person you love knowing you’ll have a night out with each other to focus on nothing but making sure each other know how much they mean to you. Not to say you should only do this once a year, hopefully you have some time for dates, or “alone time” with your partner, spouse, or whomever you love throughout the year during some regular interval. But with the hustle and bustle of life, it’s nice to know there is one day you can count on to put aside all the garbage in life and focus on the one you love.

Along the same path of thought, I come back to New Years resolutions. Improving the quality of your life should be something you do year round. In fact, unless you keep up with your resolutions you will fail to maintain your new goals. But as with Valentines day, life gets so hectic the older you get that it’s nice to have a special day put aside for “new beginnings”. There is no magic power associated with January 1st, but there is a powerful link between convincing yourself to start fresh at the same time you start fresh with a new calendar year. You make promises to yourself all year, about changing this or that, but it’s nice to have a day set aside to say “you know I have been saying I’d go to the gym since April, I’m going to finally do it”. Having a day set a side and the fact you are around friends also evaluating their lives and looking for improvement make it easier to put these changes into effect. Everything is easier when a group of your friends are also doing it, another advantage to New Years resolutions over trying to start “any other day”. Ignore anything your mom told you about “well if your friends jumped off a bridge would you?”, because in this case, it’s ok to say yes 😉

Obviously motivation and results are outside the scope of my editorial. Even with the added advantages “starting fresh” has during New Years, only you can make it happen. Only you can make sure you keep it up for 12 months regardless if your friends eventually flake out. Most people are resistant to change even when they think they really want it. We are creatures of habit. But I for one, feel strongly that New Years resolutions are a positive step forward in self improvement. They don’t have to be monumental “find cure for cancer” type resolutions. As long as you keep yourself improving a little every year. I think making resolutions with your friends at the beginning of the year sets the stage for a much more positive outcome in the following months.