Me and My Manifesto

Resolutions are doomed to fail.  There I said it, and with absolutely no regrets (starting the year off right, eh?).  New Year's Resolutions are always great to start with: You're eager to turn over a new leaf and transform into this amazing person that you think you never were.  Well, that'll work for a couple weeks, maybe a month if you have a will of steel (or something equally unbelievable), but if you're anything like me, you'll eventually brush it off saying "eh, it was just a resolution.  Those fail all the time" and dig into your Rocky Road ice cream.  Which is totally acceptable if it's something you're not really in to, like giving up chocolate, or exercising every day *cue shudder*, but if it's something you really want to do it can be quite disappointing if you can't stick with it.

To me, the reason resolutions fail is because they're called resolutions.  Bear with me now, but the word "resolution" has a somewhat negative and disheartening connotation.  If you think about it, how many resolutions have you succeeded in keeping up? Or, like in my case, do they just remind you of your failure? Every time you "resolve" to do something, do you hear that tiny voice in your head saying "you can try, we'll see how far this one goes".  This might not be the same for everyone, but the general idea is the same.  Resolutions don't work because they're not known to.  So many resolutions have failed, that your mind blocks you from ever believing that you could achieve your resolution.  And as much as we all love to hear of the amazing success stories about people who have set resolutions and not only succeeded in keeping them, but gotten amazing results, we can't help but wonder how they do it.  We can't believe that some hick girl from Iowa can set a goal for herself and achieve it in one year when we can't keep up with something for one month.

So, I resolve to not resolve.  I resolve to not call my resolutions, resolutions.  Maybe I'll call it my Annual Manifesto, but I won't call it a resolution.  Hopefully this will give me a fighting chance against my brain, who clearly resolves to ignore any resolutions.  But remember when you're writing your own A.M. that you don't need to completely uproot your life and change who you are (probably, I don't know your life).  Resolutions are easier to keep when they don't have an enormous impact on your life; and hey, maybe you think you need to transform into someone new, but chances are you're already an amazing person.

Just remember who you are in this time of life changes and Annual Manifesto's, and think about whether or not you actually want to change that.

I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday and break, and (if you're lucky like me) continue to do so!
Thanks,
~~Sammi : )