Resolutions: Best If Served With Zeal

I've never thought highly of resolutions (I'm thinking New Year's mainly). It always seemed to me strange that just because the calendar changed, so many people (inexplicably and all of a sudden) have epiphanies of what's wrong in their life and how to fix it. I always wondered, "If a new date was all you needed, why wait till Jan. 1?"

Needless to say, then, is how un-resolved my own life has been over the years. I've usually stuck to either implementing any improvement-changes "now" instead of trying to make them coincide with New Year's, or watching everyone else's resolutions slowly descend like a day-old helium balloon. This year is no different, but for one thing. I realized how essential that new-found enthusiasm is, whether it comes at year's end or not.

What has always frustrated me about my own resolutions is how quickly my resolve disolves and becomes diluted, not like sugar in coffee, but like strength in the body: rather than have it in the one muscle that needs it, it seems to spread throughout my whole person, leaving the particular "resolution muscle" in question weak and impotent. Knowing that this happens to everyone making resolutions, I've just never got excited about them; getting hyped up before a game that I know I'm going to lose never made sense.

Then it hit me. If it weren't for those enthusiastic times of clear-headed thinking (that usually come with time off around Christmas), we'd never get around to making resolutions in the first place. We'd be just as tired and foggy-headed as we are in March or November. The vigor and zeal of resolutions (whether New Year's or others) are important, not because we find ways to sustain them throughout the year (we don't), but because without them we'd never have the energy or gumption to make daring and far-fetched plans in the first place. We'd never dream to be better people or do greater things.

Yes, our resolve in the midst of life dwindles; no, we won't implement our resolutions without mistakes. But unflagging resolve and perfect execution are never the goal. Then what's the goal? That depends on the resolution. And "thar's the rub". There's a difference between the goal that the resolution is meant to help you attain and the resolution itself. If the execution isn't what you expected, that's not necessarily a bad thing; keep the goal before you. If you're closer to your goal, odds are you're doing fine, and that not adhering to your specific plan to get there need not vex you.

I've got some resolutions this year, and I've actually been excited about beginning. We'll see how well I do. But I'm more comfortable knowing that my resolve will dwindle this time. It's not that I'll find a way to keep it going; it's that the plans I made are worth the effort, no matter how poorly I execute them.

BHT