New Years Resolutions History

 A new year and new resolutions, but do we know why everyone makes and breaks resolutions? Let's dive into the history of New Year's traditions.

Modern resolutions reflect our excess and cushy lives. Way back in BC times agriculture (from the Egyptians to the Chinese) was what made the world go 'round. No crops meant no food or money. They resolved to be good so crops would be bountiful. Our society has different needs, and some aren't needs at all if you truly look at it from the perspective of poverty-stricken people. Resolving to go use a gym membership is not a need unless you need to lose weight. Trying to consume less social media implies that you have the means to look at social media often. While losing your smoking habit is definitely a need for your health, other resolutions are far from needs.

4000 years ago Babylonians started the tradition. During the Akito festival, they would pledge and make promises. If they kept them, they were on the good side of the gods. If not, they were not favored. Julius Caesar created a new calendar in 46 BC and made January 1st the beginning of the new year, thus honoring the god Janus (a two-faced God looking back into the past and into the future). Romans promised good behavior to honor Janus and made sacrifices. In the middle ages, knights renewed chivalry vows by placing hands on a live or roasted peacock (or pheasant, if peacocks were unavailable). This would be an end-of-year celebration called a "peacock vow". 

With that background, we move into modern times. 17th Century made resolutions common. This is still true today. We don't resolve to be good to gods for the sake of crops, but to ourselves out of a need to self-improve. We reflect on our goals in the new year and try to do better. A new year and a new start is the mindset of most who make resolutions. 40 percent set resolutions, 80 percent break them by February, and only 8 percent are successful. Experts say we are doomed to fail. 

Common Resolutions

Setting goals means you need to have actual steps to success. Most fail to plan those steps and think too big, especially when little steps, done consistently, are needed to create habits. The most common ones include health, weight, media consumption, relationships, money, work, and travel. 

Breaking resolutions is extremely easy to do. One or two missed weeks at the gym and you can simply stop going to the gym entirely with little effort. A month later you slap your forehead like you need V8 while looking at your resolution list. So, yeah, that 8 percent worked hard to make their resolution a success. Below you will find the resolutions most forgotten. 

- lose weight/get fit  - quit smoking  - learn something new  - eat healthier/diet  

- get out of debt/save money  - spend time with family more often  - travel to new places

- reduce stress  - volunteer   - drink less 

Why they fail

Above I talked about setting goals with concrete steps and consistent habits. Take into consideration that unshared resolutions have no accountability and we have more than one solid reason that we often fail at keeping them. Put simply, with no accountability and no small steps to achieve our objective, we make it easy to forget our resolution as life's stress takes hold of our schedule. Too many resolutions only lead to frustration as you overwhelm yourself.

Advice to those keeping their resolutions would be to have an accountability partner, keep concrete small goals that lead up to your main goal, and not to think too big. Don't make the list too long. One or two big goals with small goals that lead up to them would be a solid plan. Monitoring your goal is a must. Give yourself time to change habits. Don't think that it will be easy. Make it manageable, trackable, and give yourself a time frame to do it within. 

If you want an example, suppose I wanted to work out consistently, possibly do Zumba at least once a week. I call my fictional friend Sally and we agree to do it together. With this in mind, we set up a time and day of the week to do so at my house, her house, or at a workout studio near us. If one of us forgets or life events get in our way we jump back into the schedule as soon as humanly possible. She calls me and I call her to keep each other going strong. After a while, we have created a habit. This goal was manageable because Sally and I had a plan set in place and kept track of our Zumba habit in a planner or calendar. This type of goal is set often with no accountability or plan in place, but if you do it like this you have a chance of success.

2020 is over

2020 was a blur of Corona Virus, cancellations, and general disappointment, as well as poor mental health and isolation. I think we can all agree that this past year was a dumpster fire that is still smoldering. That said, we have a vaccine out and I can tell you that I have gotten it (no side effects for me, in case you were wondering). We are alive. Take care of yourselves and good luck keeping those resolutions!

Ps. Look up Dumpster Fire 2020 on google for some fun entertainment and good laughs. They make 2020 dumpster fire toys and ornaments! The picture to your left is a cross-stitch.

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https://www.trafalgar.com/real-word/history-new-years-resolutions/

https://www.history.com/news/the-history-of-new-years-resolutions

http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,2040218,00.html

https://people.howstuffworks.com/culture-traditions/holidays-other/why-make-new-years-resolutions1.htm

https://www.cnet.com/health/the-history-of-new-years-resolutions-and-celebrations/