I long ago resolved not to make any New Year's resolutions.
It's the one resolution I can keep, even if resolving to not make a resolution is technically a resolution.
Over the years, each time a fresh year rolled around, I made all kinds of the usual offerings to myself and the heavens.
I was going to lose weight. I was going to gain weight. I was going to stop using certain cuss words. And stop writing my name in my sister's Archie comics and pretending they were mine. I would cut the lawn without arguing with my Dad first. Add more greens to my diet. Be stronger when walking down the cereal aisle. Use the 'half' measure on my gas gauge as empty. Stop buying so many hockey magazines. Buy more magazines. Watch less hockey. Watch more hockey. Do my homework before the lost possible minute. Stop mixing beer and shots. Learn a new language.
You name it, I've resolved to do much of it, from silly childhood promises to more important adult decisions.
But for the most part, for me, they were mostly empty proclamations. Within a few days, I'd be back to my regular routine and never felt bad.
"Ah, I'm fine. How can you improve on this?"
Any real changes have come with life experience or existential crises, like health scares or waking up in a field when you thought it was your bed. (Our 20s were fun, weren't they?)
I of course understand why resolutions might be important. Small changes can mean bigger results down the road.
It's a blank slate, a fresh start. Important goals to have a sense of control over your life.
And it's always important to have goals, big or small. Who do you want to be? Where do you want to be? All that good stuff.
So I get it.
But, and I can't remember exactly when it was (although it was likely around the time I had posted a 'do you make New Year's resolutions?' poll for the 15th year in a row) I finally figured out it was futile for me to try to make any promises for this specific day.
Like when I turned 25 and figured I was in a rut, spending every weekend in the bars and playing video games. So we went bungee jumping and white-water rafting and the like, only to realize we much preferred what we were already doing. The change came, organically, a few years later when fatherhood and home ownership became the top priorities. Year-long (and lifelong) obligations don't have any specific dates.
So as Jan. 1 rolls around for 2025 (how fast does time fly?), I'll watch and listen as others tell me about their resolutions. I'll be impressed with their goals and their earnest approaches. And I'll also be content knowing that for another year I'll just resolve not to resolve. Works for me.
Do you make New Year's resolutions? Have you made one that has changed your life? I'd love to hear your stories.
PQB News/VI Free Daily editor Philip Wolf can be reached by phone at 250-905-0029, or by email at philip.wolf@blackpress.ca.
