Let’s ring in the new year!

Happy New Year. New year meaning a new year of opportunity, of happiness, of challenges, of good times. The reason why so many people set resolutions is because the beginning of the year, and in this case decade, allows for us to leave all previous year’s transgressions in the past and start this year fresh. As human beings we are such creatures of habit; we experience some stimuli and respond exactly the way we always have. Once we have this system internally set up to respond in that fashion, it’s very hard to break yourself of that habit. As a result, people think the new year is an opportunity to focus on those habits and counteract them to respond differently. I may decide to work out more often, but at 5am when my alarm goes off I probably will still want to respond by snoozing since that has historically been my habit. It takes strong will to force yourself to change your ways when you have spent years perfecting those habits. So why is it that some people have strong enough will to change these habits and others eventually succumb no matter what they do? Do the people that succumb have a weaker will than those that overcome their habits? Is it possible that you really can’t teach an old dog new tricks? Or is it the same as a toddler, with enough repetition you will inevitably overcome it? Or is it possible that a person’s chemical makeup doesn’t allow them to respond to a certain stimuli any other way? For example, a person that has a horrible temper makes a new years resolution to stay calmer. Something happens and they end up screaming. Is that person weak for surrendering to their poor habits or is that person physically incapable of responding any other way? In that case, are some resolutions excusable? If we start making excuses, will that eventually be the downfall of the success of overcoming that habit? As the year continues on don’t become victim to your excuses yielding your progress. I’m going to try to be the best person I can be every day of the year, whether or not I have a warranted excuse not to be that person. Wish me luck!