New Year’s Resolutions are annoying. Every year, people have the refreshing feeling of beginning a new year and associate that with being able to create a clean slate.
But why do you need a new year to do that? Because really, Dec. 31 to Jan. 1 is just another day. You can start working towards your goals or changing your lifestyle at any point.
Society gets so hyped up about getting in better shape, quitting smoking or meditating more. People think they need an excuse to start, instead of just starting. Far too often people find any excuse possible to delay these lifestyle changes.
For example, working out and creating a healthier lifestyle requires a lot of preparation. You need to go grocery shopping to eat nutritious foods, get a gym membership to work out and mentally you need to be ready to make the transformation and dedicate yourself to your new lifestyle.
It all seems easy enough when you are motivated to make the change. But then you start to think about how busy the gym will be the first few weeks of January and you get discouraged.
Next thing you know it’s Jan. 1 and you haven’t set up your gym membership or grocery shopped for healthy foods. Your resolution is off to a great start.
Don’t get me wrong, resolutions can be great to help create a healthy mindset and improve routines, but usually they are just that, attempts.
According to Healthline Media, 80 per cent of New Year’s resolutions fail within the first month of the new year. This is due to a lack of foundation, meaning and personal relevance that makes it easier to run out of steam.
Post-secondary institutions or schools, businesses, organizations and media outlets came together to find a solution they feel is more realistic for most individuals to stick to and created the Monday Campaign. This campaign aims to give people a fresh start every Monday instead of having to wait until a new year.
I like this more than a New Year’s resolution because people can feel defeated for not sticking to their resolution which crushes all motivation they may have had left. Resolutions are so easy to give up on when usually, people don’t put the proper effort into them.
The Monday Campaign allows people to feel refreshed and reset every week.
I think it also lets people focus on smaller goals like simply spending less time on the Internet or taking a relaxing bubble bath to help improve mental health. Smaller goals can have longer benefits than just focussing on one huge goal that is difficult to dedicate yourself to.
I think the greatest success comes when you take things day-by-day. Have a goal in mind, but don’t obsess over the end product before thinking about all of the things that go into successfully getting to the end.
