First, let me apologize for being a
little late. I have to admit, I am horribly, horribly slow during the holidays.
This year, I thought I had everything planned out to a T…but obviously I missed
one…I promise to do better next year. So…did I just make a New Year’s
resolution? Or is that just a promise? This month, I’m looking at this age old
tradition and finding its roots.
We
all know what New Year’s resolutions are…don’t we?
We’ve made them, we’ve broken them and
we’ve circled around them because we don’t know quite what to do. Let’s start
with a definition: A New Year’s
resolution is a tradition where a person resolves to change an undesired behavior
or trait to accomplish a personal goal or to improve their life. These are most
common in the Western hemisphere but can be found in the Eastern part of the world
as well.
Okay,
so now we know what they are…but who started them?
It’s said that the ancient Babtlonians
were the first people to make New Year’s resolutions over 4,000 years ago. They
also were the first to hold New Year’s celebrations but their calendar did not
have the year start until mid-March when the crops were planted.
Great…we
know who started them but why were they started?
As with many things in the past, New
Year’s resolutions had their beginnings in religion. For instance, Babylonians
made promises to their gods at the beginning of planting season that they would
pay their debts as well as return anything they borrowed. Romans began their
year by making promises to their god Janus of a similar nature. For early
Christians, New Year’s day because the traditional day to think about their
past mistakes and resolve to be better in the future.
So
now we know the hows and the why…but how many people stick with their
resolutions?
According to popular statistics between
40-50% of Americans say they make New Year’s resolutions. Unfortunately, those
same statistics say that only 8 percent of those are successful. And the crux
of the issue is what that resolution may be. If the resolution is difficult,
chances are you aren’t going to succeed. However, it has been noted that if
your resolution is of a more common nature, nearly half of those are
accomplished as the person who makes them is ten times more likely to fulfill
their goal.
What
are the most common New Year’s resolutions?
After perusing many, many, many
statistical lists of top ten New Year’s resolutions, these seem to be the most
common.
1.
Lose weight and
get fit.
2.
Stop smoking.
3.
Learn and do
something new.
4.
Get out of debt
and save more money.
5.
Volunteer
6.
Spend more time with
family.
7.
Be less stressed
and more positive.
8.
Travel more.
9.
Improve career.
10.
Spend less time on
trivia things such as social media.
So there it is…the whole New Year
resolution thing in a nutshell. Being a writer means we plan and make plans, we
set goals and we do our best to make sure those goals happen. Everyone holds
the keys to their own destiny and it’s up to each of us to shape that destiny
into everything we want it to be.
What about you? Are you pulling
out the new planning calendar to set your resolutions and goals? I know I am…and
one of those will be…to be on time more and conscious of that fact.
Hope you
all had a great Christmas and have a wonderful upcoming New Year celebration…see you next time!
Lynn
Interesting facts. Thanks, Lynn. I make one resolution every year, to write at least 1000 words a day. I break that resolution by March every year. Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteI think about New Year's Resolutions every year, but don't really make a list. I do make a list of what I would like to accomplish with my writing, then I hide the paper and forget about until Dec of that year. I've surprised myself many time of how many of the thing on the list that I've actually completed. Hmm, is that a New Years Resolution?
ReplyDeleteGreat one, Cara! Glad you enjoyed the article.
ReplyDeleteFor the past two years, I've sat down the week before New Year's and gone over what I want to get done.
ReplyDeleteThe first year included an international move then another one to New Mexico. The second year, my husband had cancer and it was hard to keep my head above water let alone fulfill any goals.
This year, I'm revisiting those two lists and going to incorporate it into one list that has realistic goals.
I belong to a critique group that we do this every year and hopefully, this coming year I'll be ticking off more boxes than ever.
Thanks for dropping by, Judy...appreciate it!