yayyyyy it's 2014! new year, new start, right? wrong. life will go on just as it has been for years upon years, decades upon decades, centuries and upon centuries, millennium upon millennium, era upon era, and you get the picture. the universe honestly doesn't care that the inhabitants upon a certain planet amongst the trillions of trillions of spheres in it declares an arbitrary day to be the beginning of a new revolution around the sun. who knows where the Earth first started out? so before you get all upbeat about a new year meaning better things happening, lets take a look at the past years shall we? of all the new years resolutions you've ever made, how many have you accomplished? all of them? you're lying. 10? you've got an iron will and impressive memory. 5? those may or may not have been actual resolutions. 3? pretty good. 1? you're still above average. last year, my only resolution was to eat a cupcake every month (no joke). seems easy enough, but by the time april came and went, i had forgotten all about it. I'm not trying to burst your bubble miss sunshine, I'm just trying to be realistic here. people get too caught up in the moment and spirit of "new". but if you're going to insist on being serious about new year's resolutions, i have 4 tips (in honor of 2014).
1) make it manageable. don't try things you've never done before and have no idea how to do. instead, try taking something you're familiar with and make yourself better at it. if you want to learn juggling, you're most likely not going to learn it all over the course of a year. it might take a year to learn the theory behind it, but only over the course of a few years, will you be able to "really" juggle. already know how to juggle? consider making it a goal to able to juggle 5 oranges instead of 4. maybe you want to try that cool pass under your leg trick that you heard about. the point is you don't have to try new things. you're fine as you are, but remember that there's always room for improvement.
2) consider your circumstances. do you really have time to go to the gym every day? every month? look for ways to incorporate your goals into your routine. Professor Jennifer Aaker of Stanford University teaches a great lesson in the power of multipliers, or getting multiple things done with one task. it's a great video and i highly recommend it.
3) have a material goal. what does it mean to "get better" at something? theres no tangible result, which makes it hard to motivate yourself to work for it, and its harder to keep track of. instead of "get fit" or "lose 5 pounds" try "be able to do 70 sit-ups in a row". in regards to the "lose 5 pounds" goal, in not sure if its just me, but it seems quite negative to try to "lose" anything. so stay positive as well!
4) be nice to yourself. you don't have to deprive yourself completely. if you're trying to give up sweets do it gradually. at first, while you're still in the spirit of self control, limit yourself to only 5 pieces of candy per week. then the next week work it down to 4. then 3. and by that time, your self control will be wearing off, but you'll already be used to less candy, and you can continue that habit for the rest of the year. who knows, maybe next year, you can get rid of the habit all together. but honestly, one year is not that much time. its ok if something takes more than a year to accomplish.
im not making any resolutions this year, because i know it will be highly unlikely that i will be accomplishing any of them, and as long as you keep your expectations low, you can't be disappointed right? I'm honestly just hoping I'm get to stay alive, because i have second semester junior year ahead of me, summer programs, and college apps at the end of the year. just thinking about it makes me cry, and for the first time ever, I'm not excited for the new year at all. but to the rest of you, best wishes and happy new year.
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