New Year’s Resolution Coasters | Flickr user bazbizsf | Flickr Creative Commons
As I procrastinated in my gym today, trying to delay the impending agony of my workout, I read the New Year’s resolution board by the lockers. I’ve seen the board since January but hadn’t yet taken time to read all the member’s posts about their resolutions for 2015.
Of course there was a montage of the usual ones: ‘hit the gym four times each week’, and ‘lose 15 pounds’, or ‘fit into my wedding dress again’, and ‘increase my vertical’; there were some touching ones like, ‘to be able to dance at my grandson’s wedding’, and ‘to beat my cancer,’ and then some weird/comical ones like; ‘get my trainer to fall madly in love with me’, and ‘get the naked old man out of the locker room.’ (For reals though, he gots to go!)
As I eventually moved on to the bike, I sat pedaling and wondering about those resolutions, specifically about what drives people to want to change each year. What struck me most is the importance of hope.
No matter how many New Years’ resolutions I’ve made and ultimately fallen short on, I keep trying again the next year. There seems to be an unfailing enthusiasm for a new start that keeps me trying again, year after year.
A new year provides a fresh start and the freedom to begin again. Literally the calendar begins again and we begin to remember our past and look into our future. By examining the past year we can come to see that which is holding us back or needs to change and by looking ahead we resolve again to try. Unfortunately the pounds don’t automatically disappear, and the healthy habits take effort, but we begin again filled with hope.
Perhaps we have already broken our New Year’s resolution, or even lost our hope for 2015 to be the year we make a change. Some people seem to maintain this New Year’s hope throughout the year and keep trying time after time, no matter the challenges. It’s these people that, despite struggle, pain, and humiliation, will get back up and try again that most inspire me.
Is there someone in your life who keeps pushing despite the odds? Perhaps it’s these people we can look to when it feels that hope has run out. Maybe it’s these people who keep trucking and never give up, despite their weakness, that we’re referring to when we talk about “saints.”
There is something really inspiring in those that push on despite extreme odds against them, such as David against Goliath or Notre Dame ever having a successful football program again. No matter how humiliating or difficult things get, they hold on to hope day in and day out, and are never afraid to try again.
As I finished my workout and passed by the board again I found myself scribbling my very own resolution, “Keep hoping every day!” Even if we forgot to make a resolution or broke the one we made, we don’t have to give up. It’s never too late to resolve to keep opening ourselves to hope, and when that gets tough we can count on a little help from our friends. How’s that for a resolution that we can keep making, breaking, and remaking?
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Cover image compliments Flickr user bazbizsf, found here.
