A study reveals that nearly 80 per cent of those who make resolutions on New Year’s Day abandon them before January end. Popular as ‘Ditch New Year’s Resolution Day,’ January 17 is a day when a large number of people discard the resolution that they made on the first day of the year.
Orissa POST interacted with some women who set a few goals on January 1 but couldn’t achieve them either because of some pressing reasons or because they simply found them too difficult to keep.
Sumitra Bhuyan, teacher in a Bhubaneswar law college, said, “I took a vow that I would give up junk food completely. I manage to keep to that for the first week. But eventually I had to ditch my resolution while attending family picnics. I am part of a big family and we had some picnics in which my in-laws too participated. I had to give in to the demands of the members of the family. Frankly speaking, I didn’t know about this day earlier, but I have already broken my resolution before the arrival of the day.”
“You may have valid reasons to break your resolutions. But you can do it on ‘Ditch New Year’s Resolution Day’ without feeling guilty,” said Sthita Pragnya Nanda of Bhubaneswar. “Every year, I resolve to maintain my workout routine throughout the year. But I fail to hit the gym due to frequent change of working hours in my office. I have failed to stick to my New Year’s resolutions since 2015. This year is no different. I joined the gym on the first day of the year but discontinued it from last Saturday due to my erratic working hours.”
“Ditch those resolutions, relax and stop feeling guilty about breaking them. After all, resolutions are meant to be broken,” said Rossy Devi of Keonjhar. “Being an office-goer, it’s very tough to make a New Year resolution and maintain it throughout the year. This year I resolved to not use a vehicle and instead walk to office at least one day in a week. But I had to drop the plan as I couldn’t reach office in time on a few occasions. I tried to maintain the resolution during the first week of the month. But eventually I had to rely on other modes of transportation to reach office as the mornings were too foggy to walk. So, I had to break my resolution out of compulsion. I am not too sure whether others who have New Year resolutions can stick to them for long.”
Poonam Nayak of Bhubaneswar said, “My resolution for this year was to hit the bed early, but the plan went awry this year too. I work from home for a US-based company. Therefore, working hours are different from that of offices in India. Although I managed to finish my work before 10 pm every day, I usually spend time talking to my sister and other members of the family till late night and go to bed late. This year too, I ditched my resolution before the ‘Ditch New Year’s Resolution Day’ arrived.”
Soyong, OP
