New Year’s Resolutions and the Perpetual Search for Meaning: A Pseudo-Journal Entry
This year, I think I’ll drink more water. And quit my job. And fly to France. And delete social media too. Last year, I even tried to eat one carrot per day to make my skin more orange (they weren’t even baby carrots, they were full-sized. I also hate carrots). This is what I say every December, yet for some reason, the goals never stick. And as I’m sitting here trying to think of what I want my 2026 to look like, I’ve come to the conclusion that New Year's Eve resolutions are arbitrary, and I’m going to do away with them completely. My New Year's resolution is that I’ll never make a New Year's resolution again!
This may come across as a shock to many of you. And you’re probably wondering what prompted such a dramatic reaction to such a positive action. Maybe I’m just thinking about how my carrot eating goal only lasted two weeks, but genuine change cannot come from the brief motivation the turn of the year creates. Change comes from a long, arduous process where you’ll fall off the wagon a few times. Running to get back on the wagon is challenging when it’s now five feet ahead of you, and it would just be so much easier to take a nap than try to catch up. New Year's Eve does not give rise to habit forming, but instead a gimmicky motivation burst that’ll cause the resolutions to burn out at the first sign of hardship.
Other than the fact that some people expect their circumstances to change just because it’s January first, and that the resolution makers may think that drinking green smoothies will bring them peace and contentment, I find that people ignore their very real reasons for why they feel unsatisfied with their lives in the first place. Maybe drinking green smoothies will help, but a soul-sucking job will still be soul-sucking in the New Year, and you won’t get more time off work just because your resolution is to travel more.
New Year’s gives people hope, and I think resolutions help people bring meaning to their lives because they want to create a feeling that positive change will be permanent. They want the fresh start to actually be a fresh start, and they want to start living the way they want to live. But the only real thing that can actually aid the root problem is to foster relationships, do things that you love, create, quit a job that you hate, and realize that you can carve your own path in life.
This 2026, I want you to reach self-actualization.
Maybe the turn of the New Year isn’t so special. Maybe 2026 is the year to not make a resolution. Maybe I’m being cynical. Whatever the resolution may be, don’t feel bad if your goals don’t come to fruition; there’s always next year.