And What About Those New Year's Resolutions Anyway?

         The topic is all around the blog communities and everywhere else.  Every year at this time people start talking about their New Year's Resolutions.  On the blogs I keep seeing lists of resolutions or queries about what the resolutions are for the readers.  I'm not going to do either, although you're welcome to give me your input if you have made some resolutions.  My question for today is:

Are New Year's resolutions really that helpful?

        I don't think I've ever really made any New Year's resolutions in my life.  I may have expressed some in response to someone asking me about it, but I've never seriously made any kind of list that I was planning to follow or accomplish.  I guess I'm kind of bad about setting goals sometimes, but for me personally I don't see any value in making a list at the beginning of a new year just because it is a New Year and a time for new beginnings.

        I'm certainly not denigrating anyone who chooses to make resolutions for a new year.  It's an admirable thing to do if you really plan to stick to it.  But just to make a list of obvious or noble objectives that I probably won't accomplish is kind of self-defeating.  I mean that if you set yourself up for something you are sure that you are going to fail at then failure becomes more acceptable.  Personally I don't like to fail.

        Of course a list of resolutions is a list and lists can be fun.  Nothing like starting the year off with a challenge or a list of challenges.  However, I guess I prefer lists of favorite things, or things I don't like, or things I've done already.  To do lists can be helpful when you want to organize your life, so I suppose a list of things to do to better your life could also be helpful.

         The way I prefer to handle this sort of thing is to continuously make resolutions, or set goals, as I come upon them throughout the year.  Also, instead of calling them resolutions I would rather just think of them as things I really should do or things I might try to do.  I don't want to be holding myself to anything, especially at the beginning of a new year.

        But if I were to make a list of resolutions they would probably be typical ones like lose weight, eat more healthy, and exercise more.  That's what my doctor always reminds me.  I've already stated some career goals for the upcoming year and I plan to add to those as the year progresses, but I don't see them as resolutions.  Maybe I'm dealing with semantics, but I don't want to play the resolution game each year.

        So I will ask you:  Do you make yearly resolutions?  You don't have to list yours since you may have already done so on another blog, but if you want to give your list, what are your resolutions for this year?  How successful have you been in the past keeping your resolutions?  If you don't keep them how do you feel at the end of the year?  Do you even remember that you made them?  Or do you, like I, feel that making the traditional New Year's Resolution list is a bunch of hokum?  Or is it just frivolous fun?  Or are you downright serious about the whole thing? 

       By the way, I don't think of it as a resolution, but a goal of trying to reach 100 followers.  Yesterday I did it finally!    Now I guess I'll shoot for 200.  Thanks to everyone who got me to the 100 mark.