Entering A New Year
’Tis the season for New Year’s goals and prophecies to be made—and left unfulfilled. Luckily for me, I don’t rely on the last day of the year to decide who I’m going to be.
That’s something I was proud of last year when I started going to the gym regularly in mid-June. When January 2025 rolled around and the wave of new gym-goers appeared—only to slowly disappear by the end of the month—I knew this wasn’t going to be another broken promise to myself. And it wasn’t.
That stayed true even though I still ask myself almost every day whether I actually like going to the gym. (I don’t.) What matters more is that I keep showing up. Not because I enjoy it, but because it teaches me how to keep promises to myself. First, that. Second, the ability to build a habit and remain consistent—something that’s notoriously difficult, whether you live with disabilities like I do or you’re a perfectly healthy human. Commitment is hard for everyone.
What’s funny about the end of the year is how seriously people suddenly reflect on time, as if a calendar flip holds moral weight. But if you only reflect once a year—or every so often—do you actually care about maintaining change? Or are you just participating out of FOMO? Out of fear of not being enough?
Why do we create goals at the end of the year, when time itself is a construct and “a year from now” could just as easily begin on a random Tuesday in April? Reflection only seems meaningful once time has already vanished, even though that logic applies to every single day.
A Painting that I started in November 2024 - Unifinished as new meanings and details continue to be added. (The understanding that life and growth happens overtime)
My proposition is simple: if you have New Year’s resolutions, check in with them at the end of every month. Are you honoring them? If not, ask yourself why. Why is it only important to think about your needs one day—or one month—out of the year? When you understand the reason, you can research it, adjust, and apply real change. That’s how a resolution becomes something you actually live by.
Real change happens through daily awareness—thinking every day about your impact on others, and on your own body and mind.
My goals have been set for a while now, but if I had to name a New Year’s resolution, it would be this: to continue being present. Presence allows me to genuinely help myself, no matter the position I’m in.
I wish that for everyone—to start at any point in life, not just on one symbolic day you remember briefly and forget just as fast. Make changes that actually impact you. And ask yourself why you resist thinking at all.
If this feels targeted, I’m probably hitting the nail on the head—and I’m including myself. Don’t be offended. I like to depict the human condition, myself included. I am human, and I have an endless list of things to work on in order to grow. What I won’t accept—especially from myself—is the excuse that change will happen “later,” deferred to a time construct that exists only in our minds.
Camille B.
