RESOLUTION
Since we are approaching the end of the year, I decided to write an article on a topic most individuals know. Resolution, like in a New Year's resolution. It seems to me, that a super majority of New Year's resolutions, although, made with the proper intentions, fail. And why is that, you may ask? Well, in my opinion, they are unsuccessful because in a deep subconscious level, the individual may not really want to change. A resolution is a firm decision to do or not to do something. And, there lies the problem, in the firm decision. You see, in order to do or not to do something, you have to change a habit. If you think about it, our entire lives are all about habits. If you don't believe me, pay attention how you do things. Next time you get dressed notice how you get dressed the same way without thinking about it. It can be as detailed as which leg you lift first to slip on your underwear or your trousers or which foot you slip on a shoe first, or which arm you slip a shirt on first, or in the shower, what do you soap up first or do you shampoo your hair first ( I don't have hair, !!), or do you wash your body first? Once you get up, do you start your coffee pot first or brush your teeth first? These are just a few examples of hundreds of habits that individuals go through on a daily basis. Once you get out in public, we are bombarded with many more habits. Who came up with the idea that at a restaurant your appetizers are the first course followed by soup, then salad, then the main course, then dessert and coffee? I enjoy fine dining, but why can't I enjoy dessert first then, the main course then, a salad without judgment? One day I will do that and the response by the wait staff I am sure will be a subject of an article.
The way I see it, when you set a goal that you must accomplish as a New Year's resolution in the future, you are telling yourself that it really is not a worth while goal. If it truly is a serious goal, then why are you waiting for the end of the year and the beginning of the following year to accomplish it? Why not start now? My father was a chain smoker and I remember as a youngster, that every New Year's eve his New Year's resolution was to stop smoking. I remember he used to give me his pack of cigarettes and ask me to throw them in the trash for him and dump the trash down the incinerator. For those who are privileged enough not to know about a trash incinerator, let me indulge you in subsidized living lingo. I grew up in a housing project in New York City. The building consisted of 6 floors. On each floor there was 3 apartments. Each floor had, what I can describe as a large laundry shoot looking door. The tenants would take out their trash whenever they wanted and dump it down the shoot called the trash incinerator. Since we lived on the first floor we can hear the upper floors when they dumped there trash because it all led to the basement just below us where once every few days a housing employee would burn the trash. We knew the trash was burning because the door to our trash shoot would get warm and if you opened the trash shoot door while the trash was burning, you can see the flames. And in addition, the stench was overwhelming. I don't think air pollution was a big topic in those days but certainly not for subsidized housing dwellers. Let me get back on point, so my father had me dispose of his cigarettes in the aforementioned incinerator. Only to ask me a few hours later to run across the street for him, to the local bodega and get him a pack of his favorite cigs, unfiltered Winstons. That was at a time when minors could purchase cigarettes. My point is that he had such a smoking habit, that he really did not want to change. Eventually smoking caused his death. I say this not to be judgmental because he obviously had a chemical dependency to cigarettes but, I truly believe that habits can be changed if an individual wants to change.
To change a habit, we must create a substitute habit to replace it. Maybe in my father's aforementioned example, chewing gum may have been a replacement habit. Or, maybe reading a book could have been a viable replacement. It really all depends on the individual. On a personal level, I had a love or an addiction to sugar. About 4 month ago I told myself that I no longer wanted to eat sweets. To replace my sweet urges I substituted sugar with a zero sugar chocolate protein bar every so often. I am currently approaching my 5th month of sugar free diet. I am at a point where I no longer want to eat sugar. I can enjoy watching my wife and children eat sweets with no repercussions whatsoever. I attribute my success to wanting to change my sweet tooth habit and initially substituting it with a a zero sugar protein bar. So, do not wait until the end of the year to change an undesirable habit or to create a good habit. Start now! If you don't want to start now then maybe it's not a habit worth changing or acquiring. I leave you with a quote on point by Benjamin Franklin, " Your net worth to the world is usually determined by what remains after your bad habits are subtracted from your good ones."
Just a thought.
The way I see it, when you set a goal that you must accomplish as a New Year's resolution in the future, you are telling yourself that it really is not a worth while goal. If it truly is a serious goal, then why are you waiting for the end of the year and the beginning of the following year to accomplish it? Why not start now? My father was a chain smoker and I remember as a youngster, that every New Year's eve his New Year's resolution was to stop smoking. I remember he used to give me his pack of cigarettes and ask me to throw them in the trash for him and dump the trash down the incinerator. For those who are privileged enough not to know about a trash incinerator, let me indulge you in subsidized living lingo. I grew up in a housing project in New York City. The building consisted of 6 floors. On each floor there was 3 apartments. Each floor had, what I can describe as a large laundry shoot looking door. The tenants would take out their trash whenever they wanted and dump it down the shoot called the trash incinerator. Since we lived on the first floor we can hear the upper floors when they dumped there trash because it all led to the basement just below us where once every few days a housing employee would burn the trash. We knew the trash was burning because the door to our trash shoot would get warm and if you opened the trash shoot door while the trash was burning, you can see the flames. And in addition, the stench was overwhelming. I don't think air pollution was a big topic in those days but certainly not for subsidized housing dwellers. Let me get back on point, so my father had me dispose of his cigarettes in the aforementioned incinerator. Only to ask me a few hours later to run across the street for him, to the local bodega and get him a pack of his favorite cigs, unfiltered Winstons. That was at a time when minors could purchase cigarettes. My point is that he had such a smoking habit, that he really did not want to change. Eventually smoking caused his death. I say this not to be judgmental because he obviously had a chemical dependency to cigarettes but, I truly believe that habits can be changed if an individual wants to change.
To change a habit, we must create a substitute habit to replace it. Maybe in my father's aforementioned example, chewing gum may have been a replacement habit. Or, maybe reading a book could have been a viable replacement. It really all depends on the individual. On a personal level, I had a love or an addiction to sugar. About 4 month ago I told myself that I no longer wanted to eat sweets. To replace my sweet urges I substituted sugar with a zero sugar chocolate protein bar every so often. I am currently approaching my 5th month of sugar free diet. I am at a point where I no longer want to eat sugar. I can enjoy watching my wife and children eat sweets with no repercussions whatsoever. I attribute my success to wanting to change my sweet tooth habit and initially substituting it with a a zero sugar protein bar. So, do not wait until the end of the year to change an undesirable habit or to create a good habit. Start now! If you don't want to start now then maybe it's not a habit worth changing or acquiring. I leave you with a quote on point by Benjamin Franklin, " Your net worth to the world is usually determined by what remains after your bad habits are subtracted from your good ones."
Just a thought.