RE: This is gonna be the thread where we talk about stuff
01-03-2012, 07:19 PM
I think NTA used the right word when describing resolutions.
Silly.
The idea of New Years Resolutions is a fun something that shouldn't be taken too seriously either way. It is not for the serious-minded.
What most people here seem to dislike about them are those people who use resolutions as an absolute, as a singular means for getting something accomplished. People who take the idea of the resolution and use it as the primary driving force to encourage them to make an improvement or change in their life that they should really make regardless of what day it is, I think its pretty much universally understood that if this is how you practice New Years Resolutions...you're doing it wrong.
But I think it's important not to swing too far the other way either. To look at all the poor decisions and not-met goals that come out of other's New Years Resolutions and then denounce the whole practice as poppycock, I think misses the mark. It's being too serious, but in a completely different way.
Like SO said it is true that making a New Years Resolution makes it more likely that you won't get that goal accomplished. However I think that's tied in more to the fact that, as people, anytime you claim or say that you're going to do something, it gives you a similar feeling of satisfaction as actually doing the thing. Once you get that, the motivation for actual accomplishment can dwindle. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't say you're going to do things, it means that you need to keep that factor in mind and make that much more of an effort to see it through to the end.
Personally, I have a great fondness for New Years (and the resolutions that come with it). It's a holiday that's a lot like Easter in that it says: "Okay there may have been a lot of crappy things that happened to you, or that you did in the past, but now you have a fresh start." "It's a New Year, a New Beginning" ('New year, new life' as Ed mentioned).
Again, if you are someone (I don't think you are) who takes the New Year too seriously and makes it your primary motivation for making changes in your life, or holds off on making changes until a particular date, you're doing it wrong. But if you disregard the entire idea behind it as 'arbitrary', you're missing out.
Then again, it might just not be for you.
I really like the feeling of having a fresh calendar, the hope that comes with a blank-slate future. It's fun and rejuvenating. It's like waking up and realizing that not only is today a brand new day, it's a brand new year. The 365x worldwide recognized potential behind that (as Woffs put it) gives me a boost.
Silly.
The idea of New Years Resolutions is a fun something that shouldn't be taken too seriously either way. It is not for the serious-minded.
What most people here seem to dislike about them are those people who use resolutions as an absolute, as a singular means for getting something accomplished. People who take the idea of the resolution and use it as the primary driving force to encourage them to make an improvement or change in their life that they should really make regardless of what day it is, I think its pretty much universally understood that if this is how you practice New Years Resolutions...you're doing it wrong.
But I think it's important not to swing too far the other way either. To look at all the poor decisions and not-met goals that come out of other's New Years Resolutions and then denounce the whole practice as poppycock, I think misses the mark. It's being too serious, but in a completely different way.
Like SO said it is true that making a New Years Resolution makes it more likely that you won't get that goal accomplished. However I think that's tied in more to the fact that, as people, anytime you claim or say that you're going to do something, it gives you a similar feeling of satisfaction as actually doing the thing. Once you get that, the motivation for actual accomplishment can dwindle. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't say you're going to do things, it means that you need to keep that factor in mind and make that much more of an effort to see it through to the end.
Personally, I have a great fondness for New Years (and the resolutions that come with it). It's a holiday that's a lot like Easter in that it says: "Okay there may have been a lot of crappy things that happened to you, or that you did in the past, but now you have a fresh start." "It's a New Year, a New Beginning" ('New year, new life' as Ed mentioned).
Again, if you are someone (I don't think you are) who takes the New Year too seriously and makes it your primary motivation for making changes in your life, or holds off on making changes until a particular date, you're doing it wrong. But if you disregard the entire idea behind it as 'arbitrary', you're missing out.
Then again, it might just not be for you.
I really like the feeling of having a fresh calendar, the hope that comes with a blank-slate future. It's fun and rejuvenating. It's like waking up and realizing that not only is today a brand new day, it's a brand new year. The 365x worldwide recognized potential behind that (as Woffs put it) gives me a boost.