The Rambs

New Year's Resolutions Suck

New Year's resolutions suck. I'm not saying they're inherently bad or should be abolished, but they're not good.

Some examples of resolutions that many people make are things like wanting to be healthier, to get skinnier, to become rich, or save more money. Many resolutions are simply unattainable, whether because they're unsustainable throughout a year, or because they're just too general and overwhelming to achieve. Of the above examples I think they're all unsustainable throughout a year and too general so they work perfectly for my point. Wanting to be healthier or get skinnier is a very general idea, someone could already be in perfect health and make this resolution but what they really mean is they want to target a certain area of their health or in the case of skinniness they want to target a certain part of their body. The solution to general resolutions are to be more specific, you want to be healthier or skinnier but how are you going to make that happen? You don't just make a resolution and it suddenly happens, no, you need a plan.

I don't want to just ramble about why resolutions suck but also outline a plan for how to achieve a resolution, I think money is a very easy one and a very common resolution so maybe this will be helpful to someone. Back to my other examples, becoming rich and saving money are both very attainable, in fact they're essentially the same idea, accruing wealth. When it comes to money most people have a budget or at least an idea of what they're using their money for. To gain more money you need to take time and identify your spending patterns, such as how much you tend to spend on essentials (gas, rent, insurance, food) and how much is used for entertainment (streaming services, movies, going out) and non-essentials (the newest fashion, newest tech, new and expensive anything really), and lastly how much you're putting away for savings. Once you identify how you're spending your money you can figure out what to cut back on so you can put more into saving. It's as simple as two ideas, both have a little more to them than just looking and figuring out, such as making a budget with exact amounts so you know where you need the money, but even just two ideas make a plan that solves the general and overwhelming idea of getting richer.

When it comes to resolutions that are unsustainable throughout a whole year I'm mostly referring to resolutions about health, like getting skinny. But resolutions that have a large goal and are often about self-transformation can be very unsustainable because no one knows what's going to happen during the year. So for these types of resolutions I don't have any ideas but I think they can also be made into plans. Like to get healthier that involves diet, nutrition, exercise, and an overall knowledge of what you need to change to get your goal. That type of goal is very overwhelming coz it can't happen suddenly and during a year a lot of things can happen to throw that resolution off track.

My problem with New Year's resolutions isn't making them themselves. They are overly commercialized, especially by gyms, but the resolutions most people make are hard to achieve. I think most people make resolutions that are too general and therefore overwhelming to achieve and that are unsustainable throughout a whole year. New Year's is a great time for change and transformation, but when it comes to resolutions you don't have to wait a whole year just to start doing something. If you want to do something you can make it happen and you should just start when you want.

I hope you enjoyed this first ramble of mine, there's plenty more to come. Be sure to vote or comment if you liked it, I'd love to know what anyone who reads this thinks.