New Year, New You

Everyone is currently engulfed in the warm glow of hope brought about by their New Year's resolutions, the dreams everyone has for the success and achievements 2018 will bring, the better, more accomplished, happier you that will inevitably emerge. I am thoroughly in support of setting goals and establishing a path to reach them, but not of these fleeting resolutions.

Why do gym memberships spike in the month of January? Simply because of these yearly resolutions. Why wait until January 1 to start your journey to the top? Getting fit, eating better, picking up a hobby, traveling more, raising the jumps in your weekly lessons, or dropping your stirrups more than once a month should all start the day you feel the desire to improve. Waiting until this imaginary starting line approaches in everyone's minds is simply a waste of time.

You do not become a better person at the start of each new year. The slate is not wiped clean. All of that pie you ate over Christmas will still show up on the scale, that friend you hurt with sharp words will not suddenly forgive, your chances of promotion are just as good as they were a month ago, the goals you were reaching for last year will not magically be achieved.

The start of a new calendar year is as good as any day to reflect on your progress and set goals for the future. The problem is when people choose only this one day out of the year to do so.

There is no new leaf to be turned, no sudden transformation. Strive to be your best everyday, to reach those goals and improve the areas of your life you feel to be lacking.

Join the gym in December, ask for a raise in March, throw out the junk food in August, travel the world in October. The path to happiness is not a sprint, but a marathon. New Year's resolutions simply enforce this short-term mentality. Every year around February or March I hear people say "Oh well, I'll try again next year." No, try now. One slip up on a yearly resolution does not justify another ten months of continuing the behavior you were hoping so badly to change back in January. It is a daily struggle, a challenge, a test of commitment to make these changes. A new year doesn't make a new you, a new attitude does.

Many people give up their goals early on in the year due to a lack of planning. Want to eat healthier? Don't do it by cutting out all of the sugar out of your diet at once. You don't lose weight by trading two hours spent on the couch to two hours on the treadmill. Spending hundreds of dollars on storage containers will not organize your life, just like giving up every frivolous expense is not a way to get out of debt. You don't kick an addiction in a day, and you certainly can't revolutionize your whole life in one either. The key to success with any resolution is to take it one step at a time and make a plan on how to improve on your desired area at a gradual pace, without getting over faced by the enormity of the change you are trying to make.

Even simple goals, like reading more often, are difficult to accomplish. It is not simply incorporating another piece into your life, but pushing other pieces out and reworking the entire layout. Sure, reading more may sound like a simple goal to both attain and sustain for an entire year, but on busy days you may just want to crash in bed instead of cracking the spine of your new novel. Gradually, you realize that watching a movie is so much less work, and that skipping one night wouldn't hurt. Buying a new book is such a hassle, and there are so many other productive things you could be doing with that 30 minutes before bed.

Before you know it, you forget about your goal along with the book in your nightstand all together.

Changing your lifestyle, even in a small way, takes serious devotion and rigidity. We settle into our daily routines, our schedules, our habits. Reprogramming our day to include a new activity can take a long time, and many people find it difficult to perform the repetition necessary to make the changes.

New Year's resolutions encourage a radical change, one not defined by thoughtful steps and small goals. This is the reason so many crash and burn in the first few months, if not weeks.

This year, make it your resolution to set more resolutions. Ones with timelines, attainable goals, and a thought-out path. Because the new year does not provide a new you. You must nurture your "old" and "flawed" self to a new level. Make the climb, one step at a time, to being the person you want to be.

And this year, don't wait until January 1 to begin the journey.

You will thank me later.