| A "New" Way of Looking at New Year's Resolutions By: Stephanie “Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” – Maria Robinson New Years is often coupled with conversation about “new beginnings.” New Year’s resolutions and beginning a new calendar all call our attention to beginning again and starting fresh. Caryn, a 15 year old from Illinois, has made her resolution to begin going to sleep at 10 pm on school nights. “I have to wake up at 6 am to get to school on time and I’m always so tired in the mornings,” she said. “I want to begin the New Year by adopting healthy behaviors.” Sarah will begin high school in Connecticut this fall and wants to make the varsity track team. “I’m making it my New Year’s resolution to run 5 days a week. If I can just keep up my training, I’ll be golden.” It seems as if many girls are making resolutions for 2010 to begin something new whether it is adopting a new behavior or taking on a new hobby. This is what New Years is all about right? Well, what if we made it our duty to shake up this New Years. What if we made the choice to view New Years differently this year? Instead of viewing it as a “new beginning,” what if we viewed it as the chance to create new endings? We all know that a new year is symbolic of new beginnings but in actuality, not many things begin a new on January 1st except the actual date. It’s easy to forget things we began in years past- things that we can improve upon in the new year. Rather than starting from scratch and fixating on beginning totally new behaviors, what if we focused on improving what we’ve already started as a way to create new endings? One method to adopt a “new” way of looking at New Year’s resolutions is to pledge to view one thing differently in the New Year. As Maria Robinson once said, new beginnings are hard to start, but new endings? Sometimes all a new ending takes is a change in perspective. Take something that’s been bothering you, anything. I’ll use my cousin Allie as an example. Allie is 16 and wants to go college for marine biology. Unfortunately, she hates her high school biology class. “I’m terrible at it,” she told me. “Every day I dread going to class. And I really need to do well in this course if I hope to excel in marine biology!” When Allie, thinks biology, she thinks headache. Now, she could make a New Year’s resolution where she vows to spend an extra 30 minutes studying biology every night. The more she studies, the better she will do in biology right? However, this behavior doesn’t change the way she thinks or feels about the class. She would be engaging in new behavior by studying longer each night but she would still hate the class. At the end of the day she would still be frustrated. So, instead of making her resolution a task that attempts to create something new- Allie had decided she’s going to try to change something old. Her New Year’s resolution this year is to view her biology class positively. “I’m going to focus on the ways in which getting through this biology class will help me achieve my dream of being a marine biologist. Doing well in this class will help me get into a good college program,” she says. Though Allie may never love her biology class, she realizes that it can enrich her life in many ways by helping her get closer to her goals. Rather than continue to hate it- she is going to embrace it. And in changing the way she views her biology class, she is changing her daily reality, which I know will lead to new endings. And hey, these new ending can often lead to new beginnings. |
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