New year, renewed optimism.

The close of each year brings about one common feature among many. This one feature isn’t the fact that a lot of the people are running low on money after spending it on the festivities of Christmas and New Year. Yes, a lot of people end up low on money. Rather, the common feature is that many people are making new year’s resolutions.

People are eager to leave behind the frustrations and failures of the year that just went by. There is an eagerness to do things differently and better, to let go of the past and embrace the new, the new that is supposed to come with the new year. Like the fun fare that greets the beginning of each year, new year resolutions are usually accompanied by renewed vigour or energy.

There is that focused and reassuring belief that things will turn out differently in this new year. People get busy scribbling away what they want to see happen in their lives in the new year. There’s the joy that we can start anew. There’s a relief that life can afford us a second chance, or as others would say, a second shot at life.

Slowly, the optimism ebbs away

Alas, as the year progresses, this energy and focus, like the brilliance of the setting sun, slowly wanes away. The setting sun leaves us the awe of beholding the beauty of nature, so does the new plans we have made.They still hold one sway when you sit down to read them. They are such brilliant and good plans for the new year.

Like the setting sun loses the intensity of the heat, what is left is the beauty of the sunset to admire. The vigour and energy wanes away. What is left is the admirable brilliance of the ideas we wrote down on paper. The energy and vigour to bring them to fruition is no longer as vibrant if at all there.

Some may manage to get through the year with the same resolve and energy. They may end up realising their resolutions. This article is not for those people although they may equally learn something from it. There is always something one can learn. This article is mainly aimed at those that fall short in their attempt to realise their resolutions. Those people who start the year with new resolutions but are unable to fulfil them.

Why it is difficult to maintain the optimism

Why is it difficult to realise our resolutions that we have set up? Several reasons can be advanced as to why we fall short. I will here give you my reasoning for this.The reason for the failure is that when you set a year-long goal or resolution, it is much more difficult to achieve it compared to a one-time activity.

Let’s take for example, a common resolution that people make of wanting to lose a certain amount of weight by the end of the year. After a lot of eating of cake and other nice foods over the festive period, it makes sense in a way that a lot of people would want to lose weight. So, the goal will be to do certain things such as going to the gym, cutting down on certain foods or simply taking walks.

Doing this as a year-long activity will be very difficult compared to, say, I will go to the gym for a month to shade off a few kilos. Going to a gym for a month is a one-time event, although one may argue that a month-long event can’t be a one-time event. That’s a fair argument. You can substitute this with a one-time event that comes to mind. Now let’s make some progress. The point I am trying to drive home here is that a one-time event is easier to achieve than a year-long one.

Let me hasten to point out that I am in no way saying that you must not have year-long plans. You can have them. You must have them. What I want you to know is that they are difficult to achieve but not impossible. Inherent failure lies in the fact that year-long resolutions are difficult to achieve. Let me give another example to help better understand what I am trying to say. Cleaning the house on a single weekend will be much more easy or doable than resolving to clean the house twice a week for the whole year. Are your new year resolutions focused on a one-time activity or year-long plan?

How to maintain the optimism

How then can we be able to maintain the energy to see us through to the very desired end? Here are a few ideas that I hope will be helpful for you:

1. You need to view Year-long resolutions as an art to be mastered. To become good at something you must put in the required work and effort. Whenever I think of art, I think of how I can creatively do what I am doing. This makes it more interesting. And you want to do more of it. Give yourself a reason to want to come back to or continue with the resolution even if it is a year-long plan.
2. You need to have your goals set in a concrete manner and they must be achievable. My guess is that you are on a mission to better yourself and not to torture yourself into submission. 
3. What is important for you in the resolution that you have set for yourself? Is it about you losing weight or is it about the feeling that you derive from having lost some weight? Is it the work you put in or the artistry you gain by keeping at your resolution? What is important for?
4. Sometimes we can be swayed by the buzz around us and end up drawing some resolutions to simply fit in with the people around us. The question you need to ask yourself is, why do I have this set goal? And how many goals you want to set for yourself is up to you. You decide what you can handle.
5. You need to have some markers that will show you that you are heading in the right direction. The markers that you set will not only tell you that you are making progress but will also inform you that you are progressing to your desired goal.

Here is to a life of realised resolutions and the joys it brings.