{"id":7123,"date":"2022-01-03T08:30:50","date_gmt":"2022-01-03T15:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/westretch.ca\/?p=7123"},"modified":"2025-12-04T12:57:43","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T17:57:43","slug":"are-new-years-resolutions-really-worth-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westretch.ca\/blog\/are-new-years-resolutions-really-worth-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Are New Year\u2019s Resolutions Really Worth It?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why do we make resolutions?<\/h2>\n

As the end of the year rolls around and a new one begins, many people will start asking you about your New Year\u2019s Resolutions. Either grudgingly or hopefully, you\u2019ll share what your resolutions are, often being something like you\u2019ll lose weight or you\u2019ll read more. They\u2019ll nod acceptingly and you\u2019ve passed the unspoken test, despite both of you knowing that your resolutions will most likely fail<\/a> and remain as empty words. We do this because we don\u2019t want to receive upturned noses by saying we haven\u2019t made any. It often goes unspoken, but we can see the judgment in their eyes from disappointing them. You haven\u2019t made ANY resolutions? You don\u2019t want to improve who you are? Darling, we know you\u2019re far from perfect- can\u2019t you at least try to be better?<\/em> This often stems from a culture of overworking, one where if you\u2019re not constantly doing something, you are deemed as lazy and less than. The reality is that rest is important and that we don\u2019t have to be constantly improving to have value, but it can be hard to push against what society deems as \u201cnormal\u201d. In the end, we\u2019ll often choose something related to what we are unhappy about ourselves with and then feel ashamed that we didn\u2019t meet our goals. But what if it didn\u2019t have to be like this?<\/p>\n

Where resolutions come from.<\/h2>\n

Making resolutions stems from historical religious reasons. You can read more over on History\u2019s website<\/a>, but basically, Babylonians, Romans, and early Christians used the change in the year to repent for past sins and to promise better behavior, and repay debt in the new year, so as to not be punished by their gods. Over time, making resolutions has morphed into a non-secular tradition, but it is still present in many societies. So what do resolutions mean to us? “Resolution” comes from the Latin \u2018resolvere\u2019, which means to loosen or release. It has shifted over time to include these additional definitions, according to Oxford Languages:<\/p>\n