No New Year’s resolutions this year, except to live a good life and to be of some help to others. I have come to the opinion that new year resolutions and the modern form of self-flagellation; for why would an arbitrary turning of the calendar, an artificial construct at that , bring us to wrought a change that we have no considered worthy in the months just past?
For in the words of Cyril Connolly, “If our elaborate and dominating bodies are given to us to be denied at every turn, if our nature is always wrong and wicked, how ineffectual we are—like fishes not meant to swim.”
Flamingo Dancer's Blog 
Witty title. Do people really do sackcloth and ashes for New Year’s Resolutions?
Yes, I’m deadpanning it.
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sackcloth and ashes – the new reality show!
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Oh dear. Just when I thought it couldn’t sink any lower…
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Agree. Worst time to make your life harsher here in Ol’ Blighty: short dark wet days, skint from Christmas and a resolution to keep? Nah. Indulge, cuddle up, wait for the Spring then change you life.
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The use of sackcloth and ashes is a Jewish tradition for great sorrow or mourning, as when Mordecai (bible, story of Esther) discovered that the Jews had been sold for destruction. Filled with grief and sorrow, he wore sackcloth and ashes to get Esther’s attention and let her know that the situation was deathly serious. Later, during the time of Christ, it was a common practice of the Jews to disfigure their faces and wear sackcloth and ashes to signify to others that they were fasting. Needless to say, Christ spoke against such obvious hypocrisy.
Anyway, basically, what you’re saying, or at least how I interpret what you’re saying, is that the act of making a “New Years Resolution” just for the sake of saying “Look at me, everybody! I’m changing a buncha stuff this year,” is irresponsible and vain. Making a goal to change yourself should never be a public thing done only once a year. It should be very private and done as often as you notice personal imperfections about yourself. It should be carefully thought out and should include a firm commitment to change. New Years Resolutions, on top of being pretentious (IMO) are almost designed to be broken.
Okay, I’m done ranting. Sorry about that. You get a follow for putting up with me.
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I heartily agree. I make resolutions through out the year, and try to change habits or routines that are not good for me in the long term. Do you think that social media has made resolutions are much more public event now though? I have been reading blogs for a number of years now, and every New Year I see a plethora of online declarations of change, and I am in no way saying that I have never done the same myself, and too often the rest of the year is spent with the creator lamenting their failures.
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Yes, I think social media encourages “New Years Resolutions” It’s a tradition throughout the United States to indicate something you are trying to change about yourself for the upcoming year. These goals are usually poorly planned out and executed and generally have to do with losing the weight you gained over Happy Hallowthankamas.
The appropriate way to make a goal, I’ve been taught, is to make one (just one), set a time-limit and…oh foop. I could write an entry in my blog on this. In fact, I think I will. I’ll provide you with a link-back. Cool?
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