I had to very strongly resist the urge to answer this question with one sentence: ‘because time is continuous.’ Luckily for you, I decided not to be a smart aleck and elaborate a bit.
Various sources ‘on the line’ cite anywhere between a 70% to 90% failure rate for New Year’s Resolutions. I think this is something reflected in most personal experiences too- I can’t really think of anyone that has fully committed to a life change spurred on by the turn over to a New Year. The problem is that setting yourself a concrete ‘win or lose’ resolution is far too binary for real life- challenging yourself to ‘lose weight’ or ‘be healthier’ is an impossible task, because who decides when you’ve achieved it? As highly self-critical human beings, chances are that even if you do make significant progress, you’ll still never think of the resolution as ‘done’.
Equally, if you set yourself the challenge of losing 10 pounds, anything short of that and you’re a failure too. Why would you want to start a new year setting yourself up for disappointment, an excuse to criticise yourself? I can understand that there is something inspiring about turning over a new leaf with a new year, but the reality is that if you have bad habits, a change in the date isn’t going to miraculously eradicate them. Another problem with setting resolutions is that we tend to be far too ambitious about what we can achieve- if you’ve been trying to quit smoking for years, there is absolutely nothing about another damp January that’s going to make it any easier. That’s not saying you can’t quit smoking, it’s more that the ‘all or nothing’ approach can be a massive downer when you show any sign of lapsing. Any kind of drastic lifestyle change must be gradual to stick. Don’t claim that you’re going to become the most virtuous, angelic creature to walk the earth when you know you’re partial to giving in to questionable games of Odds On. That’s almost as annoying as the people who say they’ve definitely failed that exam when they’ve never come out with anything less than a first.
So often disappointing New Year’s Eves prove that nothing changes at midnight, there is no reverse Cinderella situation where when the clock strikes twelve you magically have your shit together. Trust me, if you drop your shoe at a party, no gorgeous stranger is going to knock on every door in Durham to return it (don’t pretend you wouldn’t be freaked out if they did). If you simply can’t resist the urge to set yourself a challenge this year, maybe do it mid-march to be different, or in the same way as I’ve started doing my to-do lists (you could maybe go to the gym if you really fancy it! No worries if not!). Make 2017 a year to be kind to yourself, put your mental wellbeing first, and the rest of the ‘New Year, New Me’ rubbish will naturally follow.