New Year's resolutions get a lot of flack from the world because of the classic situation a lot of us seem to get in.
Take Ol' Bob Robert George, here. Around the first of December, Bob made the decision he needs to stop his habit of throwing rocks at his neighbor's windows. It won't be any trouble, he thought to himself. I can quit whenever I want to. Heck, New Year's is just right around the corner. I'll stop then.
So, for the rest of December, Bob Robert George gleefully broke his neighbor's windows, going so far as to increase the amount of damage he was causing. After all, his last chances to participate in such an activity were rapidly decreasing.
"So, uh, heh heh, Bob," Mr. George's neighbor said to him. "I, uh, couldn't help but, uh, notice! That, uh, you've been breaking a lot more of my, uh, uh, windows recently."
"Oh, don't worry, neighbor!" Bob said cheerfully. "My New Year's resolution is to stop this nasty habit!"
Mr. George's neighbor failed to be reassured by the statement, but chose not to press the matter.
So here's the catch, dear reader. The New Year came along. For about a week, the neighbor of Ol' Bob Robert George enjoyed unbroken windows. And then, sure enough, before he even knew what was happening, Bob was over at his neighbor's house, frantically bashing in as many windows as he could.
"New Year's resolutions are the worst!" Bob moaned. He shoved his neighbor's TV through the bathroom mirror. "I never keep them! Nobody ever keeps them! They're just a sham!"
... really, now.
The problem with this painfully ridiculous fictional story is that Ol' Bob Robert George should have stopped breaking his neighbor's windows the moment he recognized he needed to stop. When he gave himself the time to indulge in his idiocy, then he only further entrenched himself in it, making it harder to, quote unquote, quit cold turkey.
True, the concept of New Year's resolutions has a problem. It's that people place an expiration date on everything they need to change. Imagine if someone struggling with, say, confidence recognizes they need to work on that confidence, but they make that acknowledgement in the first month of the year. "Oh, but it's January 15," they say. "I'll wait until 2016 to start working on that."
NO. Nobody does that because that's dumb. However, leading up to January 1st, a lot of people seem to get in their mind that the only time they can begin changing is on the next year, and therefore fail to keep their resolutions.
The advent of any New Year is wonderful because it does give us a chance to start with a clean slate. The end of the year is a reflective time, perhaps moreso than any other time in the year. However, we should not make that advent the only time we can possibly change.
As for me, I have a lot of things I need to work on, both now and for the rest of 2015. I'm constantly looking for ways to improve. Sure, I may fail to hold fast to my determination to stick to a certain principle or decision I've decided to keep. However, through the forgiving power of the Atonement, I can take as many chances as I need.
What are your resolutions?
Hey there! I wrote a commentary about this post on April 7, 2016! Click here to read it!
My New Years resolution is ...............to be continued ...
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