I love New Year’s resolutions. Western civilisation has organised a calendar to represent the natural cycle of the seasons. Having been developed in the northern hemisphere the year roughly begins with the short days of the midwinter and the new year brings the prospect of the days lengthening and the renewal of spring.
Here in the southern hemisphere the new year brings the opportunity to have a holiday and enjoy the warm weather and beach. But whatever the season the idea of the New Year gives us the chance to think about change, to leave the bad things behind and start afresh.
I love the optimism we get from our New Year’s resolutions. I have no cynicism towards our attempts to change things for the better, regardless of how practical and successful they are.
My New Year’s resolution list is quite comprehensive. With so many things to do, I know that I can’t fail to achieve some of them. And if I were to live to a great age I might eventually tick them all off.
My New Year’s resolutions
- Health & fitness: swim more regularly, eat less carbohydrates and get into more regular sleep patterns
- Household—finish the renovation, repair the veranda, oil the deck, prune the hedge before it reaches 4m tall, paint the garage, fix the hole in the ceiling, fix the tiles in the bathroom …
- Mental well-being—reduce social media (except Linked IN), spend more time in the garden
- Finances—save money for renovations and improve my superannuation
- Personal growth & hobbies—travel, finally learn French and read more books, finish at least one of the multiple writing projects I have started
- Relationships—be more supporting of my elderly mother and aunt, spend more time with my children, visit and catch up with friends I didn’t see last year
- Habits—quit smoking (I don’t really smoke) and reduce the amount of red wine I drink.
We can usually guess that words ending in “… olution” come from Latin (it sometimes makes them a bit less interesting). And with “resolution”, it comes directly from Latin “resolutionem” which meant the process of reducing things into simpler forms. It relates to “resolvere” meaning to loosen, loose, unyoke, undo; explain; relax; set free; make void, dispel.
Resolution word origin
This broad concept of breaking things down into their components has given resolution its multiple usages. In thinking, it means reducing a problem into its basic forms by mental analysis (late 14c.) and then “resolution” was applied to the solution thus found (1520s).
This gave us the expressions to “pass a resolution” (1580s) which then was applied to the solution to a dispute (1610s). And this evolved into a statement upon a matter or the formal decision or expression of a meeting or assembly (1600).
The resolutions we make at New Year’s in reference to our intention to better ourselves is from at least the 1780s. Up until the 19th century the resolutions were generally were of a pious nature.
Later “resolution” was used scientifically in describing the effect of an optical instrument in rendering parts of objects distinguishable (1860).
My success with my resolutions
It is a week and a half into January and I have been swimming, I’ve read a book, I’ve been getting up every day at 6am, I haven’t had a cigarette and I have written this blog post. How good are resolutions?