I remember the first time I wrote New Year's resolutions. I was only 6 years old when my father suggested that I make a list of things I wanted to improve upon.
To help me understand, he explained a resolution as simply "a chance to be better."
I took his suggestion to heart and set out determined to "be better." I vividly remember sharpening my yellow No. 2 pencil, pulling out a crisp sheet of wide-ruled loose leaf paper, and earnestly thinking about what I needed to improve in my 6-year-old life.
The page was soon filled with ideas. Be nicer to my little brother. Share my toys more with my friends. Help Mom in the kitchen. Try hard in school. And though simplistic and seemingly unremarkable at the time, I now realize just how powerful their simplicity was. Be nicer, share, help and try.
We joke about the resolutions that never get resolved. The ones that start with shining intentions but fizzle when we realize life is just too busy to work on improvement.
The volunteer work that we just didn't get around to. The distant friend that we just didn't keep in touch with. Those freshman 15 pounds that we still haven't shed.
When life is buzzing around us, the urgency for improvement seems to get lost in the shuffle. I find myself saying, there's always next year to be better.
The idea of a New Year's resolution is misleading because it gives the mind set that a fresh start can only happen once a year.
When I think of resolutions, I think of chances. Chances that don't come just once a year, on New Year's Day. Every day is new, every day is a chance to be better.
It's not just a new year, it's a new perspective. The ability to make something better every day, with every decision, every comment, every action.
The effects of simple resolutions are astounding. You don't have to suddenly get a 4.0 GPA and get involved in 15 extracurricular activities to make an improvement in your life.
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Even in the bustle of the new classes, new schedules and new commitments that will swarm our next few weeks, the opportunity to be better will be renewed every day. When there isn't time for anything else, I believe that making the resolution to "be better" with every moment never fails.
When it comes mid-February and I begin to lose hope that my New Year's resolutions will stick through the year, I'm reminded of the potential in a 6-year-old's perspective. I return to the basics of a 6-year-old's ambitions to be nicer, share, help and try.
And remember that tomorrow is always a new chance.
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