Resolutions

        The year is about to come to an end. What does that really mean? In all honesty, it simply means you have to start remembering it's 2013 instead of 2012 when you're writing the date. Apart from that, it isn't that much different from any other day. Everyday is the start of a new year if you look back to that same day a year ago. Years are a measurement of time created by humans, so the fact that tomorrow will be 2013, is something humans made up.
     
        Disregarding all that, we will celebrate the start of a new year. One of the most common things people will do is hope the next year will be better, and make resolutions for the coming year. You'll see a lot of "2012 sucked, looking forward to 2013" tweets, "Can't wait for 2013, this year will be my year" status updates, and "2012 was great, 2013 will be better" posts. In response to all this, cynics around around the world will point out how ridiculous this practice is and intellectuals will talk about how you should be making changes all the time not just when a new year starts. In a way, they're right.
      
        It's common knowledge that most people do not stick with their resolutions. "It's time to start hitting the gym" turns into "I never have enough time to go." "I'm going  to quit smoking" becomes "I've brought it down to just a few a day." Now I'm not here to tell people not to make resolutions and not attempt to change (and hopefully better) themselves, but I do think people should take the time to study themselves and truly understand what it takes to change. I constantly try and make changes in my life. Analysis of yourself and others is not simply about making observations, but about taking these observations and acting on them. Most of the time this will require battling with subconscious impulses based on ideals you were taught throughout your life. For example, it's hard to go against the aesthetic values society instills in you. Teaching yourself to create new values and observe the appearance of things and people differently can be pretty hard. It's hard to defeat shallow thoughts from coming up when you're looking at someone or something. I've had my fair share of frustration with myself over reverting back to a mentality I thought I had done away with.
      
        This is the reason new years resolutions often fail. When you've done something for a long enough time, it becomes second nature to you, you do it without thinking. It seems too difficult  to overcome this by applying the label "new years resolution" to it. It requires a truly dedicated mind to overcome faults you find in your lifestyle and mentality. Once you make a mistake, it can be fairly easy to simply give up. You were supposed to eat healthy, and ended up eating a bacon cheeseburger, so you come to the conclusion the resolution you made was too hard to stick with. You can't plan on overcoming this by simply remembering you made a resolution on the first day of a year humans made up.
     
        I support people trying to make what they perceive as positive changes, but you have to remind yourself to be persistent and remember the real benefits of your decision. It comes with its fair share of difficulty, but once you start getting the hang of it, other things fall in place. Once you cross the threshold into a way of living where you allow yourself to be fallible and then make real attempts to improve, change isn't as difficult it was. It won't be easy, but it won't be as hard.
     
        I'll leave you guys with a quote from The Ordeal of Change by Eric Hoffer:
"It needs inordinate self-confidence to face drastic change without inner trembling."

- Dennis