Last weekend, as I was sifting through a box of old papers, I chanced upon my old beat-up diary from the time when diaries were still in fashion, some 15 years back, and Steve Jobs had not yet murdered writing skills. As normally happens, the cleaning chores were forgotten and like Harry Potter I got sucked into the diary and landed on a page titled “New Year Resolutions”. No scary spiders here, only a neatly written list of my resolutions that looked scaringly familiar.
Surprise! Surprise! They were the exact same resolutions that I had made this year. Fifteen years back I wanted to lose 5 lbs; I still want to lose 5 lbs. Fifteen years back I wanted to eat more fruit and vegetables and cut out junk food; fast forward 15 years and I still want to do that. Fifteen years back I wanted to go to gym 3 days a week, and my needle is still stuck on it.
Nothing had changed except now my list is now on the Notes App on my iPhone. As you probably guessed it - I had not achieved any of those goals. This got me thinking as to why do we make New Year resolutions? More importantly, how did this tradition even begin? So, I did exactly what all 21st century educated college graduates ought to do- I asked Google.
Apparently, the tradition of making New Year resolutions goes back only 4,000 years when in the month of March, while celebrating the spring festival of Ankita, Babylonians (present day Iraq) made resolutions and pledges to gods to return the tools and implements they had borrowed during the year or face the wrath of gods. For once, it wasn’t the Greeks.
Obviously, it caught peoples fancy or went viral (as we say today), and over the years this practice morphed into making resolutions about self-improvement that transcended race, culture, and religion. The Babylonians might have kept their resolutions and pledges because of the fear of retribution by gods, but what is there to keep us in line?
In my extensive experience of over 5 decades on this earth, I cannot remember the last time I met someone who kept their New Year resolutions. Show me a person who kept their resolution beyond two months, and I will show you a pig fly.
So, the question is, why do we make resolutions when we know that we are not going to see them through. Besides being trendy and a conversation opener, it is a feel- good thing. It gives hope that you are going to turn a new leaf and leave all your vices behind. Good luck with that!
My students told me that it is a way of motivating oneself to change. But I think that it is a ploy that we humans have created to hoodwink ourselves by giving ourselves an excuse to justify all the indulgences without feeling guilty. When that Porto’s Milk and Berries cake or a box of See’s candy, that is not going to help the extra 5 lbs. that I am trying to lose, beckons me, a voice whispers in my ear that next year I will be more disciplined and cut out all sugar. Right now, let me stuff my face.
Also, why do we wait for the beginning of the year to make them? If we are so serious about them, why can’t we make them anytime. Let’s be truthful that it is a sneaky way to procrastinate and postpone what we do not really want to do. There is a reason why New Year resolutions jokes abound. I recently read a one liner that defined New Year resolution as something that goes in one year and out the other. Another cheeky person asked which New Year resolution guaranteed success? Answer: Make a resolution to break your resolution.
But fret not. For all who diligently, sincerely, and meticulously make your new year resolutions, my purpose is not to pour cold water on your lofty ambitions and good intentions. There is hope. According to my aforementioned “reliable” source, eight percent of those who make resolutions almost keep them. I say more power to them. They have that one indispensable little ingredient called willpower because without a healthy heap of the will power powder, this resolution recipe is bound to be unpalatable and a disaster. Unfortunately, I am out of stock on this key ingredient. I blame my parents for the DNA fiasco, or their parenting, or both.
Meantime, those of you who are in my category, let’s continue making our yearly resolutions hoping that something might stick. At least our intentions are good. Sometimes I wish I had the Elder wand for a day- one swish and those pesky little 5 lbs. would vanish. Till the day that I find the wand or Apple comes up with it, I will have to rely on the old-fashioned way of making resolutions, and maybe one year I will keep them and maybe pigs will fly.
Maybe next year!
About the contributor
Simrit Bhatti, Advisor/ Editor
Mrs. Bhatti is a Language Arts teacher at Fontana High School and teaches AP Language and Composition and Junior CP. She is an avid reader and love gardening in her spare time.