Broken New Year's Resolutions And Fun
In Old Babylon
Some historians believe that the Babylonians wrote the first New Year's resolutions -- and people all over the world have been breaking them ever since!
New Year's Resolutions - Useful Or Terrible?
Do you avoid the chore of making New Year's Resolutions and feel guilty or resentful, because other people expect you to make them?
Sometimes, making resolutions is not any fun and keeping them is even less fun! Making changes is making progress, so change can be good - but why wait until New Year's to change? Once a year change is certainly easier on us than Continuous Improvement at work every day - a person could go stir crazy!
I actually do not make New Year's Resolutions, but choose some goals a few times a year and work in smaller steps to achieve progress during every month.
However, I have a lot of friends that make the Official New Year's Resolutions and always break them before February.Then they feel bad. Some of them become depressed or angry about it, but others take on a sense of humor about the whole tradition.
In a recent holiday email, I received the following picture:
New Year's Day - Time For Resolutions...Or An Aspirin
Click thumbnail to view full-sizeThe Caption That Came With the Above Photo From Friends:
"To all my friends who sent me best wishes in the New Year,
Or promises of good luck if I forwarded something,
It did NOT WORK.
For the New Year,
Could you please just send either
Money, Chocolate or Gas Vouchers/Gift Cards.
Thank you! "
...♥ Hilarious, don't you think?
Happy New Year Everyone!
Here Are Some Resolutions You Might Be Able To Keep! - From Walt Disney
Try These January Holidays While You Are Thinking Of Resolutions
- Celebrate Fun January Holidays Instead of New Year's Resolutions
Yearly broken January Resolutions can add to the after-holiday blues setting in by the middle of the month. Mardi Gras is too long to wait for festivity, so here are some days for fun in January!
The Top 15 American New Year's Resolutions
Unfortunately, many of these resolutions are broken early on, during January, even during the first two weeks of the year.
You can see that the Top Three New Year's Resolutions in the United States all involve controlling one's weight and money. Both of these elements have become big problems in American culture and they appear in broadcast news nearly every day.
Maybe this will be the new year in which America can solve some of the underlying problems that cause these scourges of obesity and poverty!
- Lose Weight
- Pay Off Debt
- Save Money -- See also "Songs About Money"
- Get a Better Job
- Get Fit & Healthy - Go to the doctor and have a physical exam, ask for diet and exercise advice..
"Get Fit and Healthy"
Money has never made man happy, nor will it, there is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more of it one has the more one wants.
— Benjamin FranklinI couldn't open up a magazine, you couldn't read a newspaper, you couldn't turn on the TV without hearing about the obesity epidemic in America.
— Morgan SpurlockThe greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.
— William James- Take a Trip
- Volunteer to Help Others
- Send Holiday and New Year Health-e-Cards
- Get Better Organized
(Top 14, as reported by the US Federal Government at gov.com.)
Exercise your purchasing power as a consumer, volunteer and bring joy to those in need, and share your experiences, tell your stories, and inspire others along the way.
— Blake MycoskieA Good Resolution
Make Resolutions, Break, Start Over!
Don't be hard on yourself if you have broken your New Year's Resolutions already Here are some tips to follow that can help:
Start Over. Use a more positive approach and find out what disrupted your good intention. Than you have something to work with, so make a new plan.
Skip Some Resolutions. Choose a smaller, more reachable goal with a reasonable time frame. Choose one or two resolutions, not 10. And not all Top 14 listed above.
Pick Your Own. Don't let your friends or family tell you what to do about resolutions. Everyone should work on themselves, not someone else.
Make a Written Plan. Keep a Log Book. Plan your goals in smaller steps and write them down there, Each smaller achievement you make will drive you forward with new zest.
New Year's Ideas
Include Your Friends in your resolutions. Use them as accountability partners, but not if they are going to brow beat you about your resolutions. Just stay away from negative people - that is a resolution in itself and you are welcome to borrow it
Forgive Yourself for failing. If you did not fail sometimes, you could not progress with new ideas. Don't beat yourself up -.1,000 years from now, no one is likely going to know anything about your broken resolutions. It won't be in tomorrow's headlines, either. No one I know has their life together 100% of the time.
Celebrate Yourself. You have to like yourself right where you are before you can gain momentum towards your goals. Reward yourself when your shorter-term and intermediate goals are met. Then you can
Celebrate All Year Long! - You might want to start a Gratitude Journal or join a Laughter Club.
Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.
— Abraham LincolnAdditional New Year's Traditions You May Enjoy
- A New Year's Tradition - The Pillowcase.
The Tradition of the New Pillowcase on New Year's Day - Lesser Known New Year's Traditions - Lucky Foods of Texas and More
New Year's Day arrives on different dates in the world, according to the culture in which it is celebrated. For instance, Chinese New Year is not on January 1st and the Jewish New Year is in September.
Happy New Year!
© 2008 Patty Inglish MS