As soon as Christmas passes, we're bombarded with new year's resolutions. I've never been big on these, mostly because it's all about talking big, dreaming big, then falling flat on your face. Overwhelmingly, new year's resolutions don't work. Need proof? If you're an active gym member, you see this annually. The gym is packed in January (so much so that I mainly stick to home workouts during this month rather than get kicked in the face by a confused resolutioner in a too-packed kickboxing class), begins to taper off in February, and by the beginning of March is back to normal.
(I actually wonder sometimes if resolutioning isn't a gimmick promoted by the fitness industry. I'm pretty sure that all those year-long contracts that aren't used March-December are actually making the gym more affordable and enjoyable for those of us year-round users.)
Think about it this way: New year's resolutions will last about as long as it takes to start writing "2012" automatically.
When people ask me what my resolutions are, I will jokingly respond that I make St. Patrick's Day resolutions. Have I ever actually made a SPD resolution? No. It's an arbitrary day, just like January 1, Monday, the Ides of March, or the second Thursday of the month. There's nothing special about the first day of the year other than the meaning we assign it as the beginning of a new us.
The truth is that we change when we want to change, and not a second sooner. Real change sneaks up on us, and it's usually not something we have to think about, we just do it. And while these changes are subtle, they can have dramatic effects.
For example, sometime this year, I shifted from vegetarian to mostly vegan. I can't tell you exactly when it happened--sometime around March, probably-- but it started with substituting soy yogurt into my morning smoothie and ended up with seven or eight additions to my cookbook collection and a 90% vegan diet. I expect that I'll maintain this way of eating for the rest of my life.
So why did this "resolution" stick while others (such as folding the laundry immediately after removing it from the dryer) fail? Most importantly, I was ready. I'd laid the foundation by eating vegetarian for several years and experimenting with vegan cooking. This "resolution" was a change I really wanted, and I could transition into. And secondly--and maybe even just as important--I have room to cheat without failing. I know it's not realistic for me to be 100% vegan 100% of the time. I LOVE ice cream and cheese. Plus, some baked goods just aren't the same without a real egg in there. But these are things that I can live without on most days and use as special treats. Plus, having the wiggle room makes eating out less stressful and is easier for my friends and family to comply with when they want to make something this crazy vegetarian will enjoy. (Vegan cooking is actually quite simple, but it does take a certain amount of research and resources to get comfortable with.)
So the bottom line--when change is important enough to make, then make it, whatever day of the year, month, or week it might be.
