The Group Talks New Year’s Resolutions

Happy Monday, everyone!

Today, we are happy to bring you a piece from a group session some of our spellers took part in prior to the New Year. They talked about the history of New Year’s Resolutions, why some people fall short of their resolution and how all of us can make 2018 a successful one. Enjoy!

 

December can be a crazy time of the year. The Holiday season rush comes through, winter officially begins and the turn of a new year is on the horizon. A new year means new beginnings for countless people, so they decide to set a resolution, a way to improve their quality of life. Today, we’re going to talk about where New Year’s resolutions started, how they’ve evolved and how you can succeed in keeping your resolution.

Why do you think people make New Year’s resolutions?

B: I think the goal is to set a resolution to better yourself.

A: I think goals are critical to success.

K: I agree with Brian. The goal should be to better yourself.

First, let’s start off with how the holiday started. Four thousand years ago, the ancient Babylonians celebrated the first New Year.

If you were to create a holiday around one of the seasons, which season would you choose?

K: I would have a holiday for summer. It would celebrate the new life with the new vegetation.

A: I would create a holiday in the spring that replaces autism awareness. Instead i want letterboard awareness month. We would bring our letter-boards around the world and teach people.

B: I love the idea of a letterboard month.

N: I love the idea of a letterboard month, too.

S: A letterboard awareness month would be incredible but how about a holiday dedicated to girls. (When?) Spring is pretty like us. (Date?) May 21 (What do we call it?) How about International Girls Rule Day?

This celebration – called the Akitu Festival – lasted twelve days. The festival celebrated the rebirth of the sun god Marduk, and either crowned a new king or reaffirmed their loyalty to the reigning king. But the Babylonians also made promises to the gods to pay their debts and return any objects they had borrowed.

What are your thoughts on the first traces of new year’s resolutions?

A: That is intense

N: I agree that is intense

S: I believe they probably needed something that intense to help keep order

The more traditional New Year’s holiday began with the ancient Romans. January is named for the Roman god Janus, a two-faced god who could look forward and backward at the same time. Janus was the guardian of gates, arches, doors as well as beginnings and endings

What are your thoughts on the Roman symbolism of Janus? 

N: He represents the turn of a new year. The new year represents a new start and the end of a year. The god Janus is symbolic of this.

A: Well it is interesting to look at it in terms of resolutions because we make resolutions after we look back at our year and forward on the new year. That makes sense that Janus can look forward and backwards.

What’s one word you’d use to describe Janus? (Why?)

A: Noble. Really because he didn’t use his power to hurt anyone.

B: Interesting. He has two faces. How is that not interesting?

S: Handsome. You said it yourself [,Emily,] Gods are always handsome. Tom don’t be so full of yourself, we all know who is charge here.

N: Intense/righteous. Because he always saw everything and didn’t overreact.

K: Omnipotent. He had power over so many things.

Prior to the ascension of Julius Caesar’s rise to power, the Roman Senate had declared each new year would start on January 1. During Caesar’s reign, resolutions as we know them today began to pop up. But these resolutions tended to focus on being moral – such as “be more kind to others” – than the more popular resolutions today.

Name another moral resolution people could make.

A: Make time for family.

S: Be more aware of your judgement of others.

N: Open the door for strangers.

K: No distancing myself in emotional situations.

B: Be more meaningful in your thoughts and more positive in your thinking.

New Year’s resolutions also have rooted itself in religion, but the practice has moved into a more broad spectrum. Researchers tell us that as many as 45 percent of Americans say they make New Year’s resolutions, but only 8 percent are able to follow through and keep their resolutions. And 80 percent of those resolutions fail by February. Now why is that? That’s a staggering percentage.

Let’s talk about the other 55 percent. Why do you think more than half of Americans don’t make a resolution?

S: Half of Americans don’t make resolutions because time always piles up on them.

B: People don’t like to fail. If they don’t set expectations they don’t have to worry about not meeting them.

Responses:

A: I agree people are afraid of failure. But failure shouldn’t deter us from trying.

N: I couldn’t agree more. I know people are afraid of failure but we learn so much from failure.

K: I have to agree with both Brian and Sarah. To make resolutions successful some have to time manage.

Well, part of that lies in the resolution itself. Some of them are too ambitious. Now, before we go any further, there’s nothing wrong with ambition. But there is such a thing as setting too high of an expectation. These “all-or-nothing goals” often set us up for failure. There are numerous reasons behind this. From getting discontent with small failures to setting an overly ambitious goal – e.g. eradicating sugar from your diet – and some of them are too vague – lose weight -, too.

How could people change these “all-or-nothing goals” into more realistic goals?

S: Start out by setting manageable goals to scale up to their ultimate goal.

N: People need to understand that the changes that are most beneficial take time.

(A: Well said Nasser I couldn’t agree more)

K: I think we are all on the same page because we know the best changes take time and challenge us, like letterboard.

B: I think a breakdown of goals would help.

Pat Croce, the former president of the Philadelphia 76ers, is a self-made man who has written numerous books about how he achieved his success. In one of his books about leadership, he wrote, “Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.”

What are your thoughts on Croce’s quote?

S: That is beautiful. Those are words to live by.

A: Totally right. Structure is important to many resolutions.

B: I agree Sarah. If more people lived out this message then maybe they wouldn’t be so afraid of failure.

N: He is totally right. He hits the nail on the head.

Think of setting your resolutions as “resets” instead. A resolution has lines and boundaries that can confine us. But resets allow us to make those small, incremental changes to our life. It also allows some flexibility as you progress and find out what works and what doesn’t work for you.

There are countless ways to uphold your New Year’s resolution. But even if you fall just a bit short, you’ve already made the effort. In fact, you’ve accomplished the hardest task of a resolution: starting. Taking that first step is often the biggest step.

A group resolution?

A: I love the idea of a group resolution. Tom and Em I’d love to do this more often.

N: Em I love that idea. I think we should do this more often.

K: I agree, let’s have more group sessions.

S: Great idea. I agree let’s have more group sessions on a more regular basis.

B: I’d love nothing more than to do this more consistently.