As 2016 comes to a close and we start a new semester, we set goals and plans for ourselves for us to become better than before. However, this year I will not be trying to better myself the second the ball drops. “New year, new me” is the most cliché statement to me, and I refuse to be one of the many people who try to drastically change themselves, but only get disappointed in the ending up as the same person they were in 2016.
So let’s say you watch the ball drop, you kiss your significant other, and you cheer in the new year. Then, you start analyzing yourself, which can be seen as picking out flaws and belittling yourself. You want to make a goal that you can achieve, but most likely, something with fast results. You set a goal, for example: you want to go to the gym 6 days a week. Sounds like a challenge, but you have some wiggle room, right? Wrong. It takes over 20 days to make an action a habit. There is a high number of people who break these resolutions within a week.
My question to people who want to pick a habit like this, I want a straight answer from you: What makes January first the only day you can motivate yourself to better yourself in some way? I have picked up this habit of going to the gym 6 days a week……back in September. I could have said, like so many others who I have met, “I’ll just wait until the New Year.” How did you not lose your nerve by then, or forget about the goal all together? Why wait? Start bettering yourself any day, do not just wait for the most common day of the year.
Anytime anyone sets a goal, they expect immediate results. Change takes times. If I had said that I was going to wait until January to start bettering myself physically instead of back in September, I would not be able to run as far, and as fast as I do now. I would not be able to lift as much weight, or do as many reps as I can do now. If you haven’t been doing anything to prepare your goal, you’re just going to give up by rushing this. You start going to the gym, only to get sore from over exerting yourself within a day or two, then giving up. If I had tried to run a mile within 6 minutes without training up for that first, I would have failed and just stopped going to the gym.
Even if you weren’t even planning on making a resolution this year, you’ve still changed in 2016. We’re you the same person a year ago? I can tell you I ended 2016 happier, more fit, more committed to myself and my studies than I did at the beginning of 2016, no resolution required. You may not feel the change as it happens, but I assure you, you’ve changed. Maybe for the better, maybe not, but you can always expect yourself to constantly evolve, despite the need for numerous sticky notes around your room and Pinterest boards saved. If you want to change, start small, and start immediately. You don’t need a special day to advance yourself. From me to you, stay humble, stay inspired and stay true to yourself.