Happy new year everyone! The end of the year is traditionally a time for reflecting on lessons learned from the past 12 months and looking to the future with optimism. New Year’s resolutions offer us a chance to identify specific ways we can improve our lives and make concrete changes for the better.
History of New Year Resolution:
The ancient Babylonians are said to have been the first people to make New Year’s resolutions, some 4,000 years ago. They were also the first to hold recorded celebrations in honour of the new year—though for them the year began not in January but in mid-March, when the crops were planted. During a massive 12-day religious festival known as Akitu, the Babylonians crowned a new king or reaffirmed their loyalty to the reigning king. They also made promises to the gods to pay their debts and return any objects they had borrowed. These promises could be considered the forerunners of our New Year’s resolutions. If the Babylonians kept to their word, their (pagan) gods would bestow favour on them for the coming year. If not, they would fall out of the gods’ favour—a place no one wanted to be.
Keeping a New Year Resolution can be difficult so here is our top tips for keeping your goal:
- Make a plan- By being prepared means you’ll be able to come up with an action plan, which can help you achieve your goals and stick to them.
- Be specific- When setting a goal try and be a specific rather than broad or overly ambitious.
- Be choosy- Try and focus on one or two goals. Too many is a set up failure.
- Start small- Take small steps, instead of doing it all in one day.
- Don’t give up!– Whenever you’re faced with a challenge, or you think you’d be better off just giving up, remind yourself why you made the resolution in the first place. Then, create a list of what you’ll gain by achieving your goal.
What will be your 2022 goal?
