I almost missed the ball drop this year. I was at a party out here in Brooklyn and misjudged how much time I had left ’til the big moment, so I stepped outside to smoke with someone I’d met at the party. When I got back inside there was 5 seconds left of the old year and it was about time to shout and make noise in the way that we’re accustomed to when ringing in the New Year. Something else we’ve grown accustomed to? New Year’s Resolutions.
This is something that has always annoyed me. I think, basically, because I’ve always felt that New Year’s Resolutions are something to be made, but not to be kept. Awfully cynical right? What you call cynicism, I’ll call realism. Why? People don’t change. At least not over night. Every once in a while it happens (there’s always exceptions to any rule), but generally when someone sets down a New Year’s Resolution they are on their way to breaking it by the night’s end. So in lieu of this, I’ve always said, “I don’t need a specific day to bring about change in my life. If I want to change, I’ll do it any day of the year.”
That being said: I don’t change, but then, I don’t try to change either. I get into relationships (romantic or otherwise) and make the same mistakes I always make. My lazy self hinders the progress of my dreams still. But this is what I mean by people don’t change. Someone doesn’t generally turn from a slack-ass into a do-it-yourself motivator. Someone doesn’t generally turn from a selfish lover into the most giving counterpart for which one could ever hope.
I’m not really writing this to whine about my own insufficiencies as a human being. I’m not necessarily writing about your insufficiencies either. My point is that changing ingrained problems in your personality doesn’t happen overnight, that’s why there are therapists that make lots of money to counsel people for years and years. It’s one week later, so I don’t really care where you are with your resolutions today. If you already fell, then give it some more time: these things don’t happen over night.
As for me I’m good. I’m by no means perfect, but what I have seems to be working for me right now. Plus I’m stubborn and arrogant, so I think I’m better than I really am, and see no reason why I should change anyway.
