2011. 

A new year marks the turning point of the calendar year and the unleashing of the resolutions set to bring about great changes to ones’ life. Changes that supposedly get rid of the old methods , the old way of doing things, to make way for the new and improved methods, the new way of doing things. Blackboards are erased; to-do-lists altered and dated while corkboard pushpins are moved to the side, making room for the new postcards with the upcoming changes.

Gym memberships increase; Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers see a surge in enrollment numbers and Slim Fast stock has gone up. Nicotine products disappear off the shelves of Walgreen’s and Duane Reade and the top ten self-help books depleted from the bookstores shelves are now only available online. New steam pots adorn kitchen counters while gluten-free products stock cupboards awaiting consumption come January 2nd.

Resolutions are monumental: I will eat vegetables, I will stop drinking, I will quit smoking, I will stop dating rich men…and the list goes on.

Resolutions remind me of old clothing and old habits. Old clothing dies and ends up in the garbage or the basement and old habits don’t die but remain dormant in the unsolicited part of our brains where it ferments and turns to brain fog. That is why resolutions do not work for me. I will not resolve to do anything. It’s either done or not-no in between and no predetermined date. If it needs changing, it’s changed.

New Year’s resolutions equals new you. What happened to the old year’s resolutions and the old you?  Are they in storage at the local U-Haul?  Under the bed?  In the summer clothing bin wedged between the barrels of winter salt? Or did you conveniently donate them to charity and forgot to get the receipt?

Why the new year impulse to disregard the resolutions made during the old year?