This week, Rabbi Woznica offers some thoughts about entering a new year.
To Resolve or Not to Resolve? That is the Question.
While it can be difficult to accurately assess the numbers, a significant percentage of Americans make New Year’s resolutions. After one week, three quarters are successful in keeping some of them, but by the end of the year only a small percentage have been successful in achieving their goals. The most popular resolutions (according to several sources) include being healthier (eating healthier foods, exercising, losing weight), saving money, and “self-improvement.”
What if you have a habit of making resolutions, only to not achieve them? With such a failure rate, should we even bother making resolutions at all? I suggest we continue to make resolutions. There is a saying: “People who succeed have failed more often than those who have failed.” For many of us, in challenging arenas of life, it can take many attempts to reach our goal. Yet, it is better to have goals to which we aspire (and, at times, fail to reach) than not to have goals at all.
If you’ve yet to do so, it’s worth taking “pen to paper” and jotting down a few resolutions. I hope this is the year some, if not all, are achieved.
—Rabbi David Woznica
Tomorrow: When dreams are shattered.