The start of a new year can feel like a fresh start in a new chapter of one’s life. We celebrate this tradition, hoping
that the New Year will be better than the previous year.
It has been a tradition for most of us to write what we call a “New Year’s Resolution.” It is a list of promises to ourselves—list of things that we want to start or stop doing.
We use this holiday as an avenue to change and hopefully can bring out positive ideas and traits to start the New Year. Some people can achieve their resolutions at the end of the year; but mostly, we fail. Why? because “beginning is easy but continuing is hard” as the Japanese proverb says.
Filipinos usually have the ningas kugon attitude, starting things strong however losing interest fast. So some or all of the resolutions we make during the New Year might not make it by the end of the year, some will quickly fade as the days of the year go by.
If our resolutions are broken along the year, do we wait for next year to start again? Should we wait for the New Year to come to start changing our lives? Can we not work on our promises in the middle of the year? Can we not start doing something good or stop doing something bad any month of the year or any day of the month?
Can we not change ourselves anytime?
We have the ability to change ourselves anytime of the year; it doesn’t matter if it’s New Year or Christmas, as Heraclitus said “change is the only thing that’s constant.” We shouldn’t be surprised if promises are broken and plans are not fulfilled. We should embrace change and not contemplate it only during a holiday or a special occasion. Change can happen anytime, it may either come to us or we could strive for it anytime in our lives.
“To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often”
-Winston Churchill
