02 January 2008

New Year, New Me (Not)

I've never been one of those people who hates the holidays or anything, but I'm definitely one of those people who hates new year's resolutions.

Our national obsession with making and re-making ourselves into some improved version of ourselves kinda burns my ass. I mean, don't get me wrong: I love a little self-improvement. But the whole idea of a project that you're starting in the new year seems to imply that it's something that you're going to do and be done with. As if the process of self improvement isn't a lifelong pursuit.

I'm probably just picking nits. I just think piling yourself down with a list of self-improvement projects at the beginning of the year is self-defeating, 'cuz if you don't pull them off, not only do you fail at that, you manage to make yourself feel a little bit worse than you did before you started the whole thing.

Does that make sense?

So, anyway, I avoid new year resolutions, and instead try to just imagine myself being a better person, a healthier person, a more compassionate person. I'm not interested in checking those things off my list by next Janaury 1; I'm interested in the ongoing struggle.

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