Why New Year Resolutions Don't Make Sense

Be honest, have you fallen through on your New Year's resolutions yet? I didn’t bother making any, and here’s why.

Writer Mirel Zaman wrote an opinion piece for Refinery29, explaining why resolutions just simply don’t make sense.

“If 2020 taught us anything, it’s that planning ahead is for suckers,” she wrote. Being a bride that has been trying to plan a wedding, I agree with her point.

Zaman goes on to say how the pandemic allowed her to fulfill more self-improvement goals in 2020 than she ever has with all the time on her hands, but truthfully, her life didn’t feel any different just because she ate a little better and got into yoga.

Zaman poses the question, “With the world in turmoil, does any external change really have the power to make us feel ‘better’ or even different?”

With the chaos that was 2020, it’s hard to find the good in any type of resolution when everything around us was in disarray. In 2020, I tackled some serious financial goals, but it was hard to celebrate when so many people around me were struggling.

My point is that resolutions are all well and good, but we can’t expect them to fix everything. When you make resolutions on January 1, that doesn’t mean you get to wave a magic wand over your life and everything will be exactly as it should be. I think resolutions set us up for failure when we create unrealistic goals that require us to cut things out cold turkey; it will only result in self-doubt or disappointment.

Instead of resolutions this year, I chose to count blessings that I currently have and have faith that those blessings will follow me into the next year.

If you end up eating healthier in 2021, that’s awesome, but in my opinion, you will find more success by cutting yourself some slack, being thankful for the positive moments in your life, and working every day towards a better life one step at a time.