A New Year's Post: Realistic Resolutions

            I keep trying to think about what my New Year resolution should be. I don’t want to do the typical “get in shape” or “learn a new hobby” kind of resolution. Those kinds of resolutions only stick at the beginning of the year. It’s easy to work out or practice a new instrument in January. It’s also easy to just give up and put that gym membership card or hand-me-down guitar away in a place where it’s forgotten until the next year rolls around and the cycle starts all over again. 

I want to do something that will stick all year round, something that I know I can look back at by the end of the year and be proud of doing.

A realistic resolution.

            My resolution for this past year of 2014 was to mature. In 2013, I went through a rebellious stage and my relationship with my mom struggled quite a bit. So when the New Year came, I made a promise to myself that I would do my best to mature throughout the year whenever I had the chance.

            This wasn’t the kind of resolution I could just practice for a month and then give up on. It was more arbitrary. Every time there was a hardship, whether it occurred once a month, weekly, every day, or not, I would find myself encountering chances to practice my maturity.

It wasn’t something I could avoid like the other two common resolutions I mentioned. It’s easy to avoid the gym or put away the guitar to ignore the resolutions, but when I found myself in a situation where I had only the two choices of acting mature or immature, it wasn’t so easy to avoid the promise I had made to myself.

            Looking back on this past year, I can honestly say I think I’ve fulfilled my resolution. Like I said, since the resolution was different, it was more achievable. Being in shape and learning a new hobby are clearly definable. For example, loosing fifty pounds, and being able to run a few miles when before I couldn’t, would qualify as “being in shape.” Also, going from never having picked up a guitar to knowing the basic chords and some simple songs qualify as having “learned a new hobby.”

            But how can one define maturity?

It’s difficult to say the least. “Mature” could mean anything from being able to handle any crisis and avoiding all drama to simply respecting my parents more often. It’s relative. Technically, so can “being in shape” and “learning a new hobby,” but not as much. I think that’s why my resolution stuck. No matter what, even if I slipped up and acted immaturely from time to time, so long as the next chance I opted for maturity, I was still making progress.

            For me, striving for maturity was a more realistic resolution, and I’m glad to say I think I’ve met it.

            As for 2015, I want another resolution like the one I made for 2014. I want something just as arbitrary and just as achievable, something where even the slightest bit of improvement will leave me satisfied by the time 2016 rolls around.

            What I think I’m going to go for is this: “to grow in faith.” I’ve had my fair share of doubts this year and ran into a few bumps in the road on my spiritual journey with God. For next year, I want to make sure I face those bumps with better traction. Like with the “maturity” promise, the chances to work on the “faith” resolution will come at random, but in the end I think I will feel just as fulfilled.

            Maybe “growing in faith” is not a very realistic resolution for others, but it is for me. I invite anyone who wants to join me to, well, join me! I also think my last year’s resolution to mature is one worth trying (I know as teens that can be difficult, but hey, I mean, we won’t be teens forever, might as well practice.). If not, any resolution that seems more realistic is better worth making then something we all know isn’t going to stick (Like I said, who wants to keep lying to themselves about getting in shape? If that treadmill didn’t call for me last year, it won’t call for me this year.)

I think if people could make more realistic resolutions for themselves, they’ll be more inclined to keep them and be happier at the end of the year. And if the resolution is something like, say, “growing in faith,” I think that’s something worth praying to God for help fulfilling. I’m sure God wants our New Year to be just as fruitful as we do.

Happy New Year!