My father has had the same New Year’s resolution for the
entirety of my life: to lose weight. Every January, he would get up early and
workout, then make himself a nice whole-wheat, low calorie breakfast before
heading off to work with a protein shake in hand for lunch. At dinner, he would
rummage around the kitchen, picking up fresh vegetables he got on his way home
to make a veggie stir-fry. This would continue for a couple of weeks. Then he
would start hitting snooze on his alarm. The whole-wheat breakfasts turned into
sausage and bacon. The protein shakes turned into sandwiches and the vegetables
for dinner would only be eaten as pizza toppings.
One of the
most common New Years resolutions is losing weight. Once January 1st
begins, people everywhere jump into their new workout gear and head on over to
the gym. With intense motivation and a surplus of hope, people climb onto those
elliptical machines and run their hearts out. Salads and other greens are bought in the
grocery in exchange for the bags of Cheetos and Ben and Jerry’s.
That is,
for the first few weeks.
Research
shows that people’s once solid motivation gradually waivers and decreases after
the third week in January[1]
and continues to slide throughout February. Reasons for the drop vary from
person to person. Perhaps intimidation of those who were already in shape and
running a million miles on the treadmill next to them broke their spirit. Maybe
they had a day full of ice cream and McDonalds and don’t see the point in
trying to equal out that mishap. Whatever the logic, many scrap their goal and
get in the mind set that next year will be different.
Jumping
into a new routine and the formulation of new habits seems all fine and dandy
when you can sit on your couch during the last week of December, visualizing how
fit you’ll be fit once the New Year comes along and gets you in the gym. Sadly,
the New Year has no magic wand that grants all resolutions, no matter how
needed or good they are.
My father
suffers from the idea that the New Year will bring him the answers he needs and
the motivation he lacks. I’ve come to learn, however, that January 1st
is exactly the same as any other day. In order to stick to a resolution, one
must be motivated from within, not from the fact that another year has gone and
past.
[1] Bachman, Rachel.
"The Week Your New Year's Resolution to Exercise Dies." WSJ.
19 Jan. 2015. Web. 27 Jan. 2015.
We seem to have similar views on New Year's Resolutions: they're silly and you won't magically stick to something just because it is a new calendar year. Two thumbs up.
ReplyDeleteI like the opening anecdote about your father. It's a great example of how a very concrete focus on a piece of evidence can really open up a work of writing in a strong and noticeable way.
ReplyDeleteIt is true that in an interesting way, the excess of our culture is really the flip side of the culture of New Years Resolutions: we pay a little homage to being healthy a few times a year so we feel less guilty the rest of the year. Maybe we need to abolish resolutions to encourage the adoption of sustainable, healthy habits.