Day 106: Resolutions Can Be Made Anytime

I haven’t had a cigarette in 5 years. I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time. I thought it would make me feel powerful and accomplished. Instead, this day almost passed without me noticing. If you did quick maths, you would think that quitting smoking was my new years resolution. As a matter of fact, it wasn’t. I smoked like a chimney on January 1, 2016. I quit the next day. I quit smoking because I felt that I needed to quit smoking, not because the year changed. Doing it for the holiday cheapens the resolution. If you feel yourself start to crack, you can just say “maybe next year” and go back to your bad habit. Making a New Years Resolution is like going to church on only Christmas: If you think going to church is going to save your soul, your bare minimum isn’t going to make much of a difference. You’re merely doing it because it’s the only day of the year that everyone else is doing so.

When I decided that I wanted to start this writing project, I figured I would wait the extra month for Zach to finish his own. But I was ready to start the project immediately. I took the leap and just plain started. I felt in my heart that I was ready and once I got the ball rolling, there would be no stopping me. If I had waited until a specific date, I might’ve come down with a mysterious stomach ache or blame my writer’s block on the weather. And then the date would have passed and the idea would be dead in the water. Instead, I stuck with my gut and now I have 105 blog posts archived that I’ll read on the toilet once every 10 years. And I’ll have much more soon. It’s all because I decided not to wait to make a change.

So here we are. It’s January 2nd and you’re already craving chocolate. You really don’t want a salad. Your bones hurt from working out. You really need a drink or you just have to buy another lottery ticket. Clearly, you weren’t ready for a New Years Resolution. That’s because nobody should be. The inspiration and drive to make a major change in your life isn’t just something you can conjure up. It’s unnatural to think that every single person on Earth would have the gumption to change their lives on the same exact day. Faking it leads to nothing but failure.

If on October 23rd, you realize that you need to start working out, start working out.

If it’s April 20th and you realize that cocaine is ruining your life, take the steps to stop using.

It’s June 2nd and your wife is ready to leave you. Don’t wait until her birthday to come to terms with your porn addiction.

It’s September 4th and your job is driving you insane. Don’t wait until your quarterly review to see if you magically start liking it again.

When you have the actual drive to make a positive change in your life, embrace that feeling. Don’t wait until tomorrow or the weekend or the New Year. Do it now and maybe it will actually stick. Because when it comes to bettering yourself, the time and date is arbitrary. Just start when you’re ready. You’ll be thanking yourself later.

– TeeCoZee