Are New Year resolutions just a fad?

Photo by Priyanka

It all depends on the person you are. If you are the sort of person who goes after a fad, then new year resolution might just be one among the many. For me, new year means a checkpoint. It doesn't have to be when a year begins. I go to a self reflective mode from October onwards since my birthday falls in that month. So the last three months of the year I ponder about how the year treated me. It gives me ample time to come up with a set of goals for the next year and make plans for achieving those goals. Sometimes I even start with the resolutions beforehand. In my opinion, waiting for an year to begin when you already have a goal and plan is just a waste of time and energy. In a way I am a big fan of end of the year resolutions than new year resolutions.

Let me open up my cynical side. There are a lot many industries that solely makes their profit on new year resolutions. We all know at least one person who buys an annual membership for a gym, goes overboard with the fitness routine for the first week of January, then drops dead and never goes even near to that place for the rest of the year. I am the kind of person who makes fun of such people. But let me tell you, I have my dark secrets too. You see someone hoarding up journals, notebooks, planners and all the stationeries just before new year, I am that person. I still have four unused notebooks and planners from 2019. All my artistic endeavors usually starts at the beginning of the year and ends in February.

Our world has changed beyond recognition in the last one year. We all need something to hold on to, something to be hopeful for and in the crudest sense - a will to live and look forward to the next day. If new year resolutions bring some excitement, why do we need to push it aside as fad?