The Resolution Illusion
"New Year, New Me" is the phrase people always say, as if the turning of the clock from 11:59 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. on New Year'e Eve will miraculously change who they are. To believe this is to set ourselves up for disappointment. For three or four weeks into the new year, people become disappointed that their diets aren't helping them lose weight faster or they meant to spend an hour a day reading, but missed a couple days. Now they wonder if their efforts will really pay off. The problem is that we get impatient. We've all been conditioned to believe that everything should come to us quickly (advertisements promising faster service, faster results) and we lose our ability to be patient. After the ball drops at midnight and everyone has their last "hurrah!" of the year, we go about posting our resolutions on our social media pages and wait for feedback. The next couple of weeks roll by and we work on our resolutions with eagerness and anticipation, but ...