If you’re at all like me, you were standing alone as the ball dropped at midnight on Jan. 1, 2013. No one kissed you good luck on making this year better than the last, on achieving your dreams or on becoming a better you. You woke up the next morning, ate some black-eyed peas and some hogjaw, scribbled down some resolutions on the back of a napkin and waited for the wet January air to somehow morph you into a new and improved version of yourself. Maybe you went to the gym or resolutely tossed out your half-empty packs of cigarettes, continually repeating “this year will be different” in your head as your New Year’s mantra.
And then Jan. 2 rolled around and you ran out of time to go for a run or you bummed a smoke off a friend just for the heck of it. And all of your heartfelt, genuine resolutions went straight down the drain.
I’ve made resolutions in the past. Go for a run five times a week, drink three cups of water a day, the usual. And I’ve broken them. And I’ve been disappointed and frustrated with myself. These tangible resolutions are fragile promises; we are human, and we make mistakes. I know there will never come a day when I will just naturally wake up and naturally want to run a half-marathon. And that’s okay.
In my 19 years of wisdom, I have learned the best we can do is to make a heartfelt attempt at becoming a better person with each passing year. This year, I’m making the resolution to be a more patient person, a less selfish person and a healthier person. I’m not making empty promises to myself, and I’m not having an accountability partner who will only bring me down when I forget myself and eat an entire bag of Jalapeño Cheetos on a Friday night. My only resolution is to finish out 2013 a better, stronger, more intelligent person than I was when I started it, and I hope that is an attainable goal.