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Every year around this time, I hear people making their “New Year Resolutions”. I hear people saying how they’re going to hit the gym five times a week, lose X amount of weight, do something special for their significant other once a week, read more books, etc. It’s a wish list of what we all would hope we would do anyway. People look for a fresh start, and, I suppose, a new year seems like a good time to do that. But don’t fall for it! It’s all an industry-inspired plot!

New Year Resolutions are only made to make you feel bad about yourself. Think about it. How often have you made a resolution only to fail a month or more down the road. “I’m going to go to the gym five times a week. I mean four. Okay, three is pretty good. One time a week is better than none. Ah, hell. Who am I kidding? Pass the ice cream.” And the spiral of self-loathing begins. You start to feel bad because you didn’t do what you were supposed to do. What you PROMISED yourself you would. So you learn to hate yourself. “Why am I so weak? Why can’t I just do it?”

The problem with New Year Resolutions is that an arbitrary date is thrust upon you to change. You think it’s going to be easy. A new year is the perfect excuse. But it’s NOT! Most people don’t just say, “Okay. A new year is coming, which means I’m ready for change.” That’s like saying you’re going to change because it’s Tuesday. It’s an arbitrary day that means nothing to you. You have to be ready in your heart and in your mind to do whatever it is you feel needs to be done in your life.

I know that some of you are going to want to argue with me. Yes, I will admit that for some people the dreaded New Year Resolution can work. They end up losing weight or being nicer to people or whatever it is they set out to do. Well, my argument is that those people would have succeeded at any time, because they were actually READY in their minds to change. In the mean time, there are millions of others who felt pressured to make a change. Maybe the pressure is from their peers, from the fact that a resolution is a tradition, or from the brightly flashing images on TV. The TV LIES! It is only trying to get you to buy a gym membership or join a weight loss group or buy flowers on a more regular basis. Don’t believe the TV or those magazines you read! They are not out to make you a better person! They are there only to make a profit off of you while you think you have the will to change something. They KNOW that you’ll eventually stop going to the gym, yet they’ll have your year-long membership dues, and there’s nothing you can do about it other than prove that you didn’t join their gym on a whim and actually use their equipment.

If you think that if you fail at your resolution and you won’t be reminded of your failure, think again. In about April or maybe as far away as the summer, you’ll start to see commercials reminding you that you failed your goal and it’s a perfect time to try to get back on the wagon. Another opportunity to feel bad about yourself, and another opportunity for them to bleed more money out of you.

Change is not a bad thing. It’s necessary and good for us. I just think that if you wish to change something about yourself, don’t use the new year as your reason for change. You need to wait until you’re ready to actually commit to your ideas, otherwise you’re just setting yourself up for failure, which can only make you feel worse about yourself than you do already.

I challenge you to do something different this year. Do not succumb to the pressure of the Resolution. If you already have, RENOUNCE IT! Do not let the flashy ads sway you! Make your resolution in March or October or whenever you feel YOU are ready. Give yourself a fighting chance at success! Join me! Say it!

“I will NOT succumb to the pressures of an arbitrary, industry-inspired day of change! Screw you, New Year Resolution! I DEFY YOU!!!!”

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