DEBATE: New Year resolutions: Are they necessary?

Published : January 02, 2015, Patrick Buchana

(I Changed the picture -Maia Alaverdashvili)

As the clock strikes midnight making it January 1, the clean slate offered by a new year is an attractive prospect. For many, the start of a new year offers a fresh start and an opportunity to review goals, re-evaluate priorities and ditch bad habits.

A good sailor does not leave the shore without a destination in his mind. If he doesn’t have a place in mind then every direction seems to be the right way. With a direction in mind, he will drive the ship in that direction. In life, we should have a goal or aim.

To find out that destination, we need to ask some empowering questions like: What do I need to achieve in the coming months or year? Which area of my life needs improvement? Where should I reach in a time span of three months, six months or a year? How can I reach that destination? Your questions will give you the answer to reach that destination.

Some people haven’t really understood what it means to have a resolution. Resolutions aren’t goals that are so high up in the sky. They are achievable goals that will make the coming year a better year than the previous one. They are bigger steps on the ladder from which one was already climbing.

Resolutions can also be what one shouldn’t do in the next year. It helps you evaluate what you did wrong this year and you want to leave it behind and move on.

If we do not have a plan or desire, we are like a man driving in a circle. Every evening he reaches the starting point. We are living a life like that. Spending our valuable time in the cycle of events. Wake up, in the morning, do the same things during the day and go to bed without achieving a thing. If you live a life like that, even after 10 years, your life would be almost the same as today.

Resolutions can also be what one shouldn’t do in the next year. It helps you evaluate what you did wrong this year and you want to leave it behind and move on. Change brings change.To change some habits you need to identify them, re-think on how to act different, plan it out and execute the new plan. All that needs to have targets set out and that is a resolution. Change is very painful, but it will pay off. It would change your financial situation. It will change our health. It may give you enough spare time to spend on things you love.

No goal, no resolution, no change means you are in the same place you were a year ago. To move forward, you need a destination. That destination is your goal, or resolution. Then walk towards that destination, one step at a time. After a few days, you will find that you are a few steps closer to your destination. It will strengthen your enthusiasm and help you take another step towards your goal. Slowly, day by day, you are coming closer to your destination. Finally, you will reach that destination.

Even if it took more time, you reached another level of achievement in your life. Then you would be able to look back at your past with a smile.

It is also very important to critically think about the past year before setting resolutions for the coming year. You look better in the future when you know your past.