Let’s assume, two weeks before the New Year, you are in the middle of a goal that is either personal or professional. It could be something that you’ve wanted to pursue since a long time but been unable to do so because of personal inhibitions. At the back of your mind, you know the year end is approaching and it means two things – celebration and starting over on a fresh slate. And since, New Years can also take the form of imaginary bridge over which the goals and baggages can be transferred from one year to the next, your current goal also gets pushed over with a pinch of procrastination.
We live with possibilities and expectations as humans, that’s what drives us to keep going. That drive is only escalated and boosted by certain events, days, things, people or opportunities. We constantly need something to look forward to. It’s similar to how most of us wait for our birthdays. And, by the end of that day, the excitement runs stale, we’re no longer the center of the attention and the sullen mundanity dawns upon us yet again. Then we need another special occasion to look forward to.
That’s the whole purpose of these special days, events and occasions. They keep us going. New Year is just one of those days. It’s just the way we’ve been looking at that day all along. We see it as an opportunity to clink our wine glasses together, reflect on the past year, develop new goals, review old ones and coin resolutions while hoping to stick to them.
Although, it’s healthy to have one day in the year dedicated to self-analysis, to align our life and move ahead with a revived pace, it’s also a hazard in a lot of ways.
We start the year with a fresh mind, hopeful slant and new-found thrill anticipating the best from the following months. The buzz is at its peak at this point. By the time we start to reach the middle of the year, that buzz has already wilted. And the goals, the resolutions and the big plans all begin to lose their meaning now. Then begins the cycle; the next few months are then just spent mulling over personal or professional challenges and crises. The resolute goals, the motivation that you’d piped into yourself at the start of the year, all withers away. And the pattern remains the same. You’re in a mental rut and you wait yet for the end of this year so you can start over with newfound motivation, revised set of goals and zest to achieve those goals.
That’s where we go wrong. The gusto that you start the year with barely lasts that long and we begin to wait for these eventful days and the new years to wait to change something, start something and do something great. The whole concept of New Years and the vibe around these special days add to our procrastination and slow down our growth sometimes.
Given that, your New Year resolutions are pretty much useless unless you start pursuing them right this very second.
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Photo by Ian Baldwin on Unsplash
