Make New Year’s Eve Decisions in April, Not January
I, to be clear, believe in the power of putting arbitrary constraints on oneself in order to achieve anything. This is why I make to-do lists (and write “make a to-do list” at the top of the to-do list to be successful immediately), why I require a deadline even when writing an evergreen story, and why I agree with self-improvement. doesn’t just show up out of thin air without a little nudge from an app, calendar, or some sort of Black Mirror drone with axes instead of fingers that literally kicks you out of bed to start your morning run.
However, I’m also vehemently skeptical about schemes that are doomed to fail: a friend who keeps returning to that guy they’ve split up with six times earlier comes up with diets that don’t involve eating vegetables, seeing more from the Alien sequels.
I honestly hate New Year’s resolutions for this reason: they are all doomed to fail, and everyone knows it . This is partly due to the fact that many of them are trendy, feel-good people that people agree with because everyone already does it, and then abandons them after two weeks when everyone else gives up. But my position against the resolution is also related to the timing. January is the perfect machine for killing nature’s determination.
Last week, for example, a cyclone with bombs (or whatever fashionable rebrand for the winter storm concept you prefer) threw off massive amounts of snow and brought gusty winds across much of the East Coast, from Boston to Savannah. Let’s say just four days ago you decided to go to the gym more, eat better, and quit drinking for a month (a trend that’s too monstrous for a portmanteau for me to admit even here). Snow covered with cyclones, you would find that you have a lot of all sorts of nonsense on this day, and you will feel a growing sense of guilt for not overcoming nature itself in order to move forward with your decisions.
So consider this: if you still prefer a self-help problem-solving model where you stick to specific tasks that start on a specific day, don’t start those solutions in January. Instead, start them on April 1st.
Winter is the time when your body craves laziness. You are evolutionarily predisposed to gain weight and store calories to avoid the risk of starvation during the colder, colder months. Outside is a slush, gray, increasingly bleak landscape of garbage bag snowy mountains growing as unattractive to the human presence as Kevin Spacey’s film. Over the past two winters, America has been obsessed with the Danish concept of Hygge , essentially extreme coziness. This is because winter is hell and the only thing that makes her bearable is her penchant for the comfort she allows. Pour yourself a cup of mulled wine and invite your friends to play Rocket League for hours and see all of Riverdale (I hear it’s weird!). Self-motivation will come soon, in a few months.
Think of it as seasonal eating (which you should be doing for the good of the environment anyway). The earth gives you what you need depending on the season: in the summer we get juicy berries, watermelons, cucumbers, etc., to keep us cool and moisturized. Winter gives us hearty zucchini, potatoes and beets to help store calories, while spring brings leafy greens that help flush out toxins after months of hibernation.
January is the squash of the months. You can fight the natural order of things and deliver berries (also known as “resolutions”) from afar, but they won’t taste good and you are fighting against biology and the earth itself. Develop your taste for berries when they are seasonal, however, and you will easily get hooked.
The point is, heal your body seasonally too. If you have to make a decision, don’t waste it in January when you almost certainly won’t succeed, and – since you’ve signed up to the annual decision concept – your entire year will count as a flush. Make decisions on April 1st when you have a chance to make them.
Why April? Marsh is releasing a teaser trailer for the upcoming spring, but it’s also a torrent of the month full of late season blizzards and severe cold snaps. But April, friends, April is when the world turns upside down and the cobwebs fall apart. It’s time to pack up and get rid of the winter depression. Nature comes back to life, and so do you. April 1st is the perfect day to squeeze into jogging leggings (yes, it’ll still be a little chilly – you’re jumping in the spring, hot!) Dust off your bike and start moving again. The days are getting longer, so your solar panels get a natural charge (sunset January 13: 4:39 pm; April 1 sunset: 7:21 pm!). And in the unlikely event that the gym is still full of January permit lovers, you can also go jogging in the fresh air again.
And if you want to quit drinking for a month or quit smoking for good, April is the right time to do so, because after the world comes back to life, there is so much more left for you to do. Instead of drinking, you might join the soccer league like the Brooklyn hipsters of the past, or become one of those people obsessed with photographing cherry blossoms in your local botanical garden, or just go for a long walk and take such a deep breath. to allow it The still warm spring air fills your lungs as you remember the hardships of winter and think, “This, this is spring, I roll over.”
Relax this winter and take a dip in Hugge or whatever amenities you can find to relive this most miserable month in one of the most miserable times in history. We will start work in April.