You survived 2021.
Congratulations.
Now be a better person this next year or be eternally judged by everyone and yourself.
But let me digress and back up a bit. I think by this point everyone is familiar with New Year’s Resolutions. The chance to begin the next year with a new list of goals. The chance to be a better person. However, resolutions made at the start of every new year have gained a particularly poor reputation due to how the execution of said goals end up. Everyone knows at this point (and brings it up to death) that fitness centers and gyms are crowded on January 1st but nearly empty by the end of the month. People want to be better. So, they want to commit themselves to a gym membership or workout routine to achieve that but commonly fail to meet those goals.
Let’s talk about why that is.
Last year, by the end of 2020, everyone seemed to have made one unified decision: it was time to take a break from New Year’s Resolutions. Just barely surviving 2020 (some people in the literal sense), no one wanted to put up with any never-to-be-met expectations or goals. The universal resolution was for everyone and everything to move forward with getting better; to move past the pandemic, or at least take steps toward going back to normal.
There was no room for being a better person. Only regaining any sense of normalcy. That was the goal.
And with the bar set so low, I think it is fair to say everyone accomplished that very thing. Most likely, although not certain, people have taken steps toward normalcy. Life is more normal than it was at the end of 2020, at the very least. This is a subjective thing, but I think in general the world is in a slightly better state than last year.
Good job us!
Things can still be bad, and the coronavirus is still throwing an infinite number of wrenches in the world’s normal plans, but it seems like people are getting back on the trend for New Year’s Resolutions for 2022, with the optimism that 2022 will be the most normal year in a while (fingers crossed).
Here is the problem though. It should not take a world pandemic to decide that New Year’s Resolutions are a poor life choice. It should not be assumed that since the pandemic is less than it was a year or two ago means that we can suddenly accomplish all of our hefty and ambitious goals.
Work out, eat healthier, pray more, read our Bible more, be more successful at work.
I want to be clear: these goals are incredibly good to have. There is, unfortunately, a pattern we can apply from the fitness center problem. People are lazy and their own biggest obstacle, sure, but also, life is hard.
You want to eat healthier, so you find a good diet and cut down on whatever kinds of food you should not eat. You go cold turkey on beer, sugar, trans fat, or whatever it might be, and by the end of the month, you find yourself stuffing your face with chocolate cake with a horrible feeling of guilt and regret.
You want to pray and read your Bible more, so you find one of the fancy Read the Bible in One Year plans and you get going. You read and pray successfully for about a week until something comes up and you lose all of that extra time you have been committing, and by the end of the month, you are back to barely reading and praying at all.
You want to be more successful at work, so you take on extra projects, be more present for extra events and activities, and show your boss just how competent you are. People are maybe impressed with you until you burn out and lose your motivation to show up to work at all within a few weeks.
All of these goals are good, but the culprit holding you back was not a pandemic, nor is it always laziness.
It is none other than the month of January.
*dun dun dun*
He’s been there all along, mocking you as you suffer.
Let me tell you something that no one seems to talk about but everyone seems to complain about. Around the same time you make your lofty and incredibly difficult goals, the world starts to check out. Days are shorter, colder, and dead. Gone are the pretty leaves of fall and the smell of freshly mowed lawns. It is time for frost, snow, and depression. Just in time for the new year, as it shows up every year.
You just barely had the energy to get through Christmas, your bank account is low from traveling and sharing gifts, and you have to get back to work.
Sounds like the perfect time to come up with a few unreasonably difficult goals, huh?
This is why my New Year’s Resolution this year is to destroy all other New Year’s Resolutions because I’ve already planned your year out (you’re welcome). Your goals are as stated below, with no exceptions.
- January-February 2022: Survive Winter.
- March-April 2022: Survive the Tax Season.
- May-June 2022: Up to you. Now is your chance. But make it reasonable.
- July-August 2022: Up to you. Now is another chance. But do something different.
- September-October 2022: No goals. Take it easy for goodness sake.
- November-December 2022: Survive the Holiday Season.
- Repeat for the next year.
There you go. You’re booked. Obviously, any chance to eat healthier, work out, read your Bible more, and improve your situation at work would be great, but timing is everything, and those things rarely happen when you try to force them to.
I used to be a big fan of using willpower and faith alone. Don’t have the energy, time, passion, or experience? Throw that aside and rush in to get things done! Hesitation and thinking about it is only wasted time.
However, we have a bigger responsibility than our superficial goals.
When Jesus’s apostles heard of John the Baptist’s execution, and after they taken John’s body and buried him, they went to Jesus to tell him all that had happened. Jesus’s response is telling. He says, “‘Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.’ For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat” (Mark 6:31, ESV). Jesus then gets in a boat and they go to rest and mourn. Their time is interrupted, but through it Jesus is given an opportunity to shepherd the lost and provide food through miracles. Jesus did not have the spreadsheet-calculated goal of feeding five thousand people that year. He sought to care for his friends and followers and an opportunity to glorify God came from that.
Work hard.
But sometimes there needs to be time to rest and mourn.
At least an attempt.
And for the love of everything wait until the snow is gone to try and apply life changing goals. I truly believe your wellbeing will thank you later.
Silver Questions 