Do I need new New year’s resolution or a renewal of good intentions? And (either way), how sincere are these intentions?

I, for my part, have come to the conclusion this year that I do not need new resolutions, because to me it feels like restarting the same old sh*t all over again. It feels to me like the habitual sentence “Today I keep on drinking, I will definitely quit tomorrow.” Sounds familiar? Of course it does. You keep on with your bad habits or addictions, because for the moment, it is way too convenient (or whatever reason you find for not quitting “today”) to stick to old habits. It is easier to postpone the problems to tomorrow and then go through the ordeal of making the same promise again. And again the next day. And the day after tomorrow. You get the gist.

What does this have to do with New Year’s resolutions? It’s the same game: You stick to the habits until the end of the year and postpone them to the New Year. Only to find out, that you will cancel your resolution to Dry January on January 3rd already. But, it gives you plenty of time to wait until you can make the New Years Resolution at the end of the current year. Or postpone it to at least Sober October. Anyways, you will tend to cancel a good resolution only to postpone it to a seemingly better occasion as an excuse to keep on drinking or smoking or whatever.

I (for myself!) have decided that committing to habit changes and improving is nothing for New Years Resolutions and then cancel them, but rather seeing a failure or a step back not as a reason to postpone my good intention, but to learn from it and keep on going. I think that keeping up attempts for improvement has much more effect than starting over again each year. Last time I committed to quitting alcohol needed 9 more months until it manifested. But I had never stopped committing myself to quit. I just failed enough times to succeed in the end.

Until next time: Keep up the faith in yourself and take one step at a time (even if it is a step back :))