Some Thoughts On New Year’s Resolutions

Why do we do it? Is it just “peer pressure”? Is it a genuine desire to make a fresh start in our lives, to correct our perceived defects? Maybe it’s just a marketing tactic by the cosmetics and garment-manufacturing industries and health spas and fitness centers? Or is it just guilt for over-indulgence at Thanksgiving and Christmas?

For whatever reason, everyone seems to need to formulate some New Year’s Resolutions. Most of these, I believe, are all too personal, however, aimed at making us look better or feel better about ourselves or to improve our status or perception by others. Just how does getting into a size 12 instead of a size 14 pair of jeans matter? Does it matter that I promise to give up chocolate or my daily glass of wine just for Lent this year? Will it make a difference for me to vow that I’ll dust my knick-knacks more often or mop the floors twice a week instead of once?

Perhaps if one were vowing to follow the diet or exercise program their doctor keeps insisting they need to be on, and certainly if one were to quit smoking after many years of that habit, or if one had a problem with alcohol and made a serious effort to cut back, those things would help not only the individual but people around them as well.

One of the things my students chided me for doing when I was a professor was my habit of picking up trash as I walked around campus (gum wrappers, popsicle sticks, napkins, empty drink cups, even empty beer bottles in the parking lot or along walkways or even out in the grass mall, and yes, other unmentionables). Students (and other faculty) told me that wasn’t my job. HAH! Whose job was it then? As far as I was concerned, if I didn’t pick it up, I’d just see it again, and no one else either would get to walk through a trash-free campus.

Doesn’t it make sense to think more of others when it comes to our resolutions this year? Doing something for someone else might change our lives (and theirs) more than doing something for ourselves. How about a resolution to visit a homebound friend or relative at least once a month? How about taking someone you haven’t seen in a while out for lunch? How about giving 1% more of your income to charity this coming year than you did last year: if your donations were 15% of your income last year, why not donate 16% in 2025?

Maybe volunteer at the animal shelter or another charitable organization at least two days a month for a few hours each time. Join a local community service organization: the volunteer fire department, a service club like Lions or Rotary or Optimists, or Habitat for Humanity, or other similar group. Closer to home, how about finding time to read a book to a child? We know that preschool children who have an adult who reads to them will most likely become better readers and writers once they are in school.

I believe such resolutions can make a difference not only in your own life, which (I promise you) will be enriched by the relationships you form with other volunteers, but in the lives of the people who are served by your organization or who benefit from your giving or your volunteering.

In addition, the entire community experiences the spillover effects of larger numbers of residents who are generous with their time, talents, and donations. I’ve lived in places where no one seemed to care about anyone else, except to criticize their neighbors (even publicly) for whatever perceived faults were present, rather than pitch in to help out with the challenges those neighbors were so obviously facing, and that was not a fun place to live.

You might be told by someone, “You’re wasting your time! What you’re doing won’t matter one whit in the long run!” So what?. Do what might be helpful anyway. It will matter to you that you may have done someone a good turn, no matter whether there was thanks given or not.

Make a difference in our community with your resolutions, dear readers: it won’t hurt to give up time to a good cause, and you will feel even better than you do after giving up chocolate or wine (or beer, or liquor) just for Lent! Happy New Year to one and all, and let’s truly make it for ALL in 2025!