ON RANDOM THOUGHT. Resolution

For the few past years, I’ve ridden the bandwagon of creating a list of New Year’s Resolution, only to break them after the first quarter of the year. Why, I ask myself.

According to Ang Pinaka here are the Top 10 Classic New Year’s Resolution:
10. Spend more ‘alone’ time/me time
9. Spend more time with family
8. Procrastinate less
7. Eat healthier
6. Save more money/spend wisely
5. Get rid of bad behavior/traits/habits
4. Make more money/invest
3. Travel to new places
2. Quit drinking/smoking/vices
1. Lose weight/exercise/get in shape

I had to assess myself why I wasn’t able to achieve my NY Resolutions, and here are my realisations.

Resolution is the act of solving a problem, dispute, or contentious matter.

To begin with, was there a problem the past year that we have to resolve in the coming year? And if there was really a problem, why wait for the New Year to resolve it? Let’s take number 7 – eat healthier – if this was a problem in the past year, why do we have to wait for the coming year to eat healthier? Why not start it right away? What’s stopping us from eating healthier food right away?

Budget constraint

Most of us would reason out budget as the major constraint in these resolutions. But if you look at the Top 10 there, you really don’t need a huge amount of money to do all these. All these can be DIYs that would lead you eventually in achieving all of it. Here are my suggestion/thoughts of DIYs.

10. Spend more ‘alone’ time/me time
– Do it inside your parish, more ‘alone’ time and you get to talk to Him.
9. Spend more time with family
– You can do this at the comfort of your house. It doesn’t have to be grand, the point is you spend more time with your family.
8. Procrastinate less
– Borrow old book/s from your friends and read it.
7. Eat healthier
– Eat vegetable, go to your local wet market and buy fresh vegetables.
6. Save more money/spend wisely
– Simple, don’t buy things you don’t need. Always ask yourself, do I need this?
5. Get rid of bad behavior/traits/habits
– Numbers 2, 4, 5, and 6 are related.
4. Make more money/invest
– Numbers 2, 4, 5, and 6 are related.
3. Travel to new places
– It doesn’t have to be outside of the Philippines, right? It maybe a bus ride away if you haven’t explored nearby cities.
2. Quit drinking/smoking/vices
– Numbers 2, 4, 5, and 6 are related. Lessen the amount of intake of these vices, I understand that this is hard to quit. This is the reason why, we have to take it slowly but surely. Once you lessen the intake, you get to but less of these vices. Buying less will make you save more money to invest.
1. Lose weight/exercise/get in shape
– Jog around your village, or in the nearest park.

Lifestyle

Looking at the Top 10, these shouldn’t be resolutions, it should be change of lifestyle. This is the reason why, I think, people can only sustain their NY resolutions until the first quarter of the year, because they are overthinking and if you overthink the tendency is you get too conscious to do everything.

Being better

I just want to point out that I have nothing against people creating their NY Resolution/s – this is their goal setting, this list will help them achieve their dreams for the next year. But let’s keep in mind that if we change our lifestyle, it’ll be a life long commitment and to be better versions of our selves.