Resolutions

"This year will be different."

How many of us have heard those words countless times, particularly from our own mouths? Each year on January 1st, people around the world make themselves silent promises or public declarations about what they will change for the New Year. How is THIS year any different? How can you be sure that you will finally follow through with that diet or kick the old habit that nobody likes? You can’t.

We are optimistic that this will be the year that is different. Of course, it still can be. However, it is not without a fair amount of failure that we can achieve anything. The old adage goes that you must pick yourself up when you fall down. Sure there are plenty of motivational sites that encourage weight loss or help with anger-management, but failure is never highlighted. It is the dark shadow that constricts motivation and progress.

So what if we all made resolutions to make positive fails? When we face-plant on our goals why don’t we just laugh it off and try again the next day? A New Year is most certainly a new beginning but so is a new day. The next time we resolve to never again do something, we must remember that those who are the most successful are those who have figured out how to fail gracefully.

Make it different.