These resolutions are for me, not for New Years

By Cassie Weiss

I’ve never been one to keep my New Years resolutions. I would write down some flimsy promises to myself that involved eating healthier, not getting as grumpy with my parents, or doing better in school.

Each year I would look back at those resolutions and realized that by the fourth or fifth day of January I would have completely forgotten what I wrote on that piece of paper.

This is why, by the time I turned 16, I just gave up on the resolutions. I couldn’t stand writing these fake promises down that I knew I would never keep, just for traditions sake.

Since then, New Years has come and gone, and I really haven’t thought about resolutions. In my head I’ve just continued on my way, saying that if I really want to make a change I will, without the help of the written word.

As I took to the Internet in the weeks leading up to 2014, pictures and posts littered the air, filled with missions to lose weight, or eat better, or be a better friend.

These are all fine and dandy, but to me, why do you need to pledge your life in writing? Shouldn’t all these things just be something you do? Just because the clock changes from 2013 to 2014 doesn’t mean you are going to change your way of thinking simply because you wrote it down.

That is why I think resolutions are a fraud. Yeah, if I want to lose weight, that is a resolution, but it really isn’t something that is going to change if I don’t have the mentality.

But as much as I shoot down New Years resolutions, this year will be a different one for me.

No, I won’t be writing resolutions down on paper, because they can’t be broken if they were never made.

But what I will be doing, is fighting to make myself a better person. For the last four years I was cheated from my youth, jumping into a serious relationship at 18.

I never had a chance to take care of myself, always having to take care of those around me.

On Sunday I bought a gym membership with a friend. In February I will be attending a year-long program to get my health and weight under control.

These are my resolutions. By 2015, hell by summer even, I will be a different person. I’m learning that being single, being alone, is a good thing, and that this time, I’m taking time for myself, and fulfilling all those resolutions I never thought I could.

January may have already started, but hey, I don’t believe in New Years resolutions anyway. I can make mine whenever I so choose.

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