A Hand At Advice

Back in high school, I was in the school newspaper working primarily as a copy editor and partially as an op/ed writer. It inspired me at one point to try to make my own self-published pieces. I found one I wrote back in the new year seasons of 2007. o.O

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With the start of 2007 comes the start of new matters. Many things happen in the wake of these hours, and it’s been commonplace tradition for virtually every community. Fireworks and celebratory gunfire are popped off (hopefully where permitting) from locals wanting to usher in the year with a bang. Martinelli’s and champagne appears more frequently in stores and in homes across the nation (or at least California). And speaking of drinks, people usually have a New Year’s party goin’ on, complete with alcohol and drunken schemes. (I hope you drank responsibly, folks.)

But while all the explosions went off and the stocks of sparkling cider and bubbly disappear, something probably entered your subconscious. No, it wasn’t the “Dammit; I gotta got back to school/work soon” mindset that sunk in with each passing minute. Nor was it the adrenaline that pumped throughout your body when the cops came to bust your (illegal) volatile fiesta. Matter-of-fact, it also wasn’t the smell of your friend’s vomit after they had one too many screwdrivers.

Lemme give a hint: it begins with a “reso-,” ends with “-lution,” and is one of those things a huge chunk of the population ends up breaking. That’s right, New Year’s resolutions – broken more times than Jackie Chan broke his bones doin’ his own stunts.

As 2007 (or any year, really) starts, many of us will have a mindset similar to “I can do this. I’ll be able to keep my resolution(s) this year.” Many of that “many of us” will eventually fail at that and break our self-promise, from as early as… today, really, to as late as New Year’s Eve. Of course, there are those people who miraculously get their goals achieved regardless. I’d like to say they either have the willpower necessary to succeed in their goal, or blatantly cheat by having some objective that’s impossible to fall short of. So why, then, do a good number of us fail? Here’s my theories. (You probably already know about ‘em, but y’don’t know ‘bout my interpretations on them. Heh.)

- Willpower Just Isn’t Enough. Seriously, I can attest to that. There will be a number of us who try and try to resist (those with resolutions related to dieting or abstaining know exactly how that feels) only to succumb to our desires and go at it anyway.
- Temptation Surges. Always present with the latter problem, it seems. Usually instigated by friends who constantly egg you on about the abstained in question and often amplified by the abstained object’s presence.
- Excessive Quantity of Resolutions. Sometimes some of us put too much faith in ourselves. We get overconfident and try to accomplish too many goals.
- Lack of Motivation and/or Increased Impatience - Especially with Ongoing Goals. In most cases we’re all willing to get our resolutions completed at the start of the year, goin’ (for example) “Yeah, no more junk food for me!” Sure, there’s a reward for it – in this case, weight loss – but it takes a while. And depending on the definition of “a while,” it can drive some people nuts, while some others just grow apathetic with their goal and just go back to the status quo.
- Pessimism. Self-explanatory, really. Some just don’t believe they can succeed, even when they’re very close to actually accomplishing their goal. Sad, really.
- False Dispositions. Often combined with pessimism and encountered after yielding to the opposite desire of the relevant resolution.
- Inability to Follow Up. As in when one says (hypothetically) that they’ll quit being a spendaholic only to blow off countless pieces of currency on things they wouldn’t need. It’s pretty much OCD at it’s finest.
- Other Reasons I’m too Lazy to Put Up. I’m pretty sure you can fill in the blanks here.

This coming year I have a good number of resolutions I’m gonna take a stab at holding up, but like so many of you, I, too have failed at that in previous years. What makes these attempts different is that not only do I have the backing of great friends who’ll probably enforce them better than I (which’ll be both hilarious and downright scary), but I have also compiled a list of suggestions I’ll attempt to follow. Sure, they’re most likely things you’ve seen, heard, or have done before, but as I like to see it, constant drilling of something can help us remember it and thus, act on it.

- Be Optimistic. Act like The Little Engine That Could.
- Remove Anything/Anyone from the Picture who could Compromise Your Situation. And by this I don’t mean mafia removal; I mean avoid. And if it helps, don’t do anything that may snowball into something that’ll lead to the opposite of your resolution.
- Don’t Have So Many Resolutions. Overexertion is something that brings so many hopefuls down. Not piling the responsibilities on oneself really helps focus on the few resolutions. What I’m saying is that if you were to have… say, 15 resolutions, then your focus and resources allotted to each is severely cut. Conversely, if you had as little as two or three, then it’s not that much to juggle around.
- Have People Help. Better yet, make an impromptu support group or something similar. If you want, go make a “Resolution-Breakers Anonymous” grouping or something.
- Have A Delayed Start. By this, I mean: don’t start your resolutions right away. Take some time to ease it into your lifestyle. Or enjoy your sinful delight for about a week or so after the New Year rings in (I sure am) before you actually start. That way, it helps with the psychological buildup of “I can do this” when you actually start following your resolutions.

And as a little closing treat, here’s a few of my resolutions.

- Eat Less. Yeah… it’ll help.
- Procrastinate Less. Honestly, I procrastinated on this since I began typing it up back on New Year’s Day.
- Weed out the “Weeds” in my life. There’s people worthy of treasuring in my heart and others worthy of hellfire. Of course, people change, so it’s a tricky process.
- Be more assertive and confident. Before this, I was a passive and shy being. Of course, I’m trying to change that.
- Play More Video Games. WOW. BEST RESOLUTION EVER. lmao
- Get a Girlfriend. …scratch what I said earlier. If I succeed, then THIS is the best resolution ever. Hehehe.

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Okay. I guess I did okay, but at the same time, I think I can see how I grew from this. Well, until the 'morrow!