Veteran celebrity writes about New Year resolutions

Charles Oputa expresses his thoughts on New Year resolutions, its origin and why most people break their resolutions quickly in the year.

You can read it below;

“It seems like it’s a few seconds ago that we all exchanged HAPPY NEW YEAR pleasantries, amidst fireworks and all we did with it, armed with different new year resolutions.

Like play, January is winding up, or is it down?

My guy, how many times have you made New Year resolutions that you didn’t keep?

People make New Year resolutions because it brings hope for the future. Everyone starts the New Year with good intentions of making right the things that went wrong in the previous year. It is a way of setting a personal goal or target and whether we can achieve them or not, it gives us something to look forward to, and work on (hopefully).

Many of us may not know this but the tradition of New Year’s resolutions dates all the way back to 153 B.C. The month of January is named after Janus, a mythical god of early Rome. Janus had two faces — one looking forward, one looking backward.

This allowed him to look back on the past and forward toward the future. On December 31, the Romans imagined Janus looking backward into the old year and forward into the New Year. This became a symbolic time for Romans to make resolutions for the New Year and forgive enemies for troubles in the past. And thus the New Year’s resolution was born! Till date we keep that tradition of reflecting on our past and trying to improve our future.

For me, as long as I keep striving for my today to be better than my yesterday, every day is my new year or should I say, my new day and am resolved in becoming a much better person today than I was yesterday.

I can’t stop always wanting to smell better, be wiser, and make better decisions; so it is continuous work in progress.

A lot of people make New Year resolutions, some are able to achieve it and others fall back on the same old habits and stuff.

We all have our shortcomings, don’t get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with having a list of goals written down somewhere or a mental note you’ve made in your mind. While it’s good and also important to have something to strive for within the next 12 months, goal-setting has its limitations and we must understand that in order not to put unnecessary pressure on ourselves especially when we fail to achieve those goals.

I believe that the best way to make and achieve New Year resolutions is by taking a holistic look at our lives: finances, health, relationships, spirituality, etc.

We need to discover what tools and techniques each one of us individually needs to achieve set targets.

It is also extremely important to set your own goals and not your neighbour’s or your friend’s. If your goal is not realistic it can NEVER be achievable. How do you set a ‘fly’ goal when you have not even started to crawl, stand, walk or run? One steady, calculated step at a time is it, not ten ruff shoddy ones that lead nowhere or even fall you down thereby feeling a sense of failure which consequently makes people resign to fate.

I remember when I was trying to quit smoking, and every time I made the new year resolution to stop, I failed until I began to reset my mind and instead of making new year resolutions, I started making New Life resolution each and every day and that has helped me achieve my targets. Am beating my nicotine habit, am not there yet, but am on my way as that’s the only vice I really have.

The key to successful goal-making is not to be hasty when you do it. Make resolutions you’ve thought through and are willing to dedicate your time and energy to it. Abeg, don’t make resolution after coming from a party, or after getting high. E no go work o. If you’re not 100 percent committed to your goal, the possibility of staying motivated is not in your favor.

Make una take clear eyes dey enter this year, as country keep face so, we must serious o.

This is our year, boys and girls…if we get busy sha. No long tin!!”

Last week Charly Boy wrote about Donald Trump’s statement about Nigeria.