Out with the old you and in with the new. At least a third of us make New Year’s resolutions. The younger we are, the more likely we are to make one come 1 January.
The most popular resolutions are to get fit, save money and lose weight.
If you plan to lose half your body weight in six months, with or without the aid of Mounjaro, that is probably a tad too optimistic. And indeed, according to Euro weekly news, about 90% of resolutions fail by the end of January.
If you plan to lose half your body weight in six months, with or without the aid of Mounjaro, that is probably a tad too optimistic
Sarita Rao
Keeping things real, or at least realistic, is the name of the game if you want success. Or at least that’s what most of the many online articles on this topic advise.
Try something rather than give something up
Giving up something is definitely harder than trying something new.
Giving up smoking, alcohol, sweets, or as one 16-year-old on Reddit announced, “giving up porn before my mum finds out” requires resilience and dedication. It’s easy to falter at the first hurdle – or a demand for age verification!
Doing something new can be easier, unless like one earnest young woman, you “plan to read 100 books.” So make the something new, something possible.
Use your desk or organise your colour pencils?
Work might be a good place to start, since most of us have to spend time in the office, even with flexible working. Resolve to get the coffees more often, read all your emails diligently, and pay attention in meetings?
Or, as one ambitious man on Reddit resolved, “use my desk for work”. What exactly he had been using his desk for is left a mystery, but he had a thumbs up from a young woman who plans to “buy a coloured pencil organiser”. Wow, that’s a game changer.
‘Learn everyone’s name at work’ was one motivated resolution, with an admittance that they had achieved this only fleetingly because their team doubled in size that year
Sarita Rao
“Learn everyone’s name at work” was one motivated resolution, with an admittance that they had achieved this only fleetingly because their team doubled in size that year.
Here in Luxembourg, this would involve a large lexicon of names given the international nature of the workplace.
Another person committed to “look interested in meetings” which clearly required resolve. They did not state where they worked, but I think we’ve all had one of those jobs (and been in one of those meetings, usually on a Friday afternoon).
Singing, cooking or languages?
Keeping it simple, free, and something you can do daily isn’t a bad notion, and I admired the person who said they sang loudly in their car every day until they had to stop because they lost their job and with it the car they were commuting in.
When I say admired, that should be caveated, since the following sad entry was to “take more bus trips”.
Worryingly, someone had also resolved to ‘pet more dogs’
Sarita Rao
Worryingly, someone had also resolved to “pet more dogs”.
So if a random stranger approaches you whilst you’re walking your pooch, just remember they may have made a New Year promise to themselves.
Cooking is a good option – cook my meals from scratch, eat more vegetarian dishes, or another Reddit-inspired suggestion was to “learn to make bone broth”. We must assume that this isn’t the same person petting the dogs.
Forget Luxembourgish, try learning dolphin. It’s a challenging Sproochentest though © Photo credit: Shutterstock
Keep it realistic
Learning a language is another ideal resolution for anyone living here that doesn’t speak Luxembourgish. But it does require commitment, which is why someone had surprisingly written that they planned to “learn to speak Dolphin”. I want to know more about the “Sproochentest” for that.
Don’t give up dating
And some risks can lead to pleasant outcomes, so don’t give up dating just yet, as this might be the year you meet the love of your life.
This could be someone at work whose name you finally learned, or a random person who petted your dog. Or perhaps it will be love at first sight over bone broth, or the fact you both like to organise your coloured pencils.
Since I don’t plan to prepare my body to run a marathon, give up cakes, or stop binge watching television, then perhaps giving is where I will find success.
Being nicer to people
Just being nicer and helpful to strangers, listening more to friends and family, giving more to that homeless man outside Lidl, are amongst the most achievable resolutions I can make.
Of course I also plan to lose 20 kilos, exercise every day, read all the books from the Booker Prize shortlist, and save half my salary.
It’s just that being nicer to people costs nothing, and is most likely to make me feel good. Well that and fulfilling two hitherto unknown lifetime ambitions (thank you Reddit) – to organise my coloured pencils and to pet more dogs.
Happy New Year!