The ways in which we have marked time have changed over the years. The calendar we know and use in the modern age is not the only one that’s ever existed. Still, it’s the most common one, and this is about the time in that calendar that folks like to bandy about things like ‘resolutions’ for the year ahead.
There’s something of a stigma attached to ‘New Year’s Resolutions’, however, in that most people who make them rarely stick to them. I don’t know if it’s because people are unable to commit, or get discouraged when they don’t get the results they want immediately, or make their resolutions while drunk. Maybe a bit of all of the above. Regardless, I don’t necessarily have resolutions for the new year, but I do have goals.
The thing I keep reminding myself of is that no goal is achieved without two things: time and sacrifice. Nothing of value is ever gained immediately, and there is always a cost involved. It may not necessarily be a negative cost, but something must be offered up in order for the goal to be achieved. Equivalent exchange, and all that.
I’m going to do my best to not get discouraged. I hope you don’t, either. We all have things to achieve, goals towards which we strive, ways in which we seek to improve ourselves. And at the end of the day, the only ones who can make it happen is us.
