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Making Resolutions for a New Year
By the time this is being published, it is already January 12th, which means we are almost halfway through the first month of the year. That’s why some readers might think: “It’s a bit late to wish someone a Happy New Year, isn’t it?” And yet when it comes to resolutions, some people might have already broken them while others might still be trying to think of a good one. So it seems like we are not so far from the start of the year after all, and the question is:
Is it time to [re]start with a New Year’s Resolution?
Many people might be tempted to say “I will start on February 1st” or perhaps “next Monday” or maybe even “tomorrow”. The point is that much like the “new year”, we often like to begin a new routine, new tradition or new activity at the start of a new year, month, week or day. After all, a new year/month/week/day would help us mark the beginning of a new version of ourselves.
But perhaps this is precisely what makes it so difficult to properly begin or sustain a new activity or routine. Our current self is essentially saying “I will stay this way now and change later when the timing is better”. In other words, we want to change something but we are actively deciding to remain the same rather than to change. Therefore the conflict is between “wanting” and “deciding”.
