These resolutions, made with a glass in your hand on New Year’s Eve, are bound to be broken.
We’re nearly there. The end of 2016 - a particularly eventful year - is just around the corner. We hope this past year has treated you well. On our end, as you might have already guessed, the launch of our first products was definitely the highlight of 2016.
As is tradition when the end of the year is close, you will certainly draw up a list of resolutions you will try your best to follow. On New Year’s Eve you might even make a bet out of them with a friend, a glass of champagne in your hand. But let’s be honest: chances are you will not even come close to keeping any of them. Resolutions are complicated to achieve, especially if they are taken on a whim, and haven’t been thought out beforehand.
Quitting your job
The epitome of all New Year’s resolutions. The one you’ll make because you’ve had one too many to drink, and the simple idea of going back to the office is bringing you down. Quitting your job after the holiday season, when your bank account is at its lowest, isn’t the wisest of resolutions. If you need further convincing, we’ll simply mention that January marks the return of taxes and other such financial burdens. Maybe this is a resolution worth avoiding, especially if you haven’t found anything better to do.
Travelling around the world
Playing modern day explorer on an impulse is a luxury reserved to the likes of Bill Gates. A possible alternative is backpacking, i.e., the art of low cost travelling - more often than not in an exotic country - with nothing more than a backpack and a bottle of
SPF50 sunscreen. Backpacking is a throwback to a hippie tradition from the 1960s, which would see diligent globetrotters set off for indefinite periods. Since you’re not going to quit your job, a trip around the world is not going to be easy to prepare. Why not start by exploring new areas around your home or workplace? Make the most of your holidays to travel abroad, and try to avoid booking at the last minute.
Joining a gym
An American study revealed that approximately two-thirds of gym subscriptions are cancelled by mid-February. Don’t sign up on the spur of the moment on the 31st, when you’ve already drunk a few glasses of champagne. Instead, save the money you got for Christmas and start running. At least - should you give up running later down the road - your financial situation will have remain untouched, unlike your holiday belly.
Taking up singing
Singing with friends or family during end of the year festivities has never turned anyone into a vocal prodigy. Not that this should prevent you from keeping your habit of singing under the shower every morning while massaging your usual
shampoo into your hair. Trying to begin a career as a rock star is most certainly a mistake, unless you’ve already been offered a contract.
Learning a new skill
Being educated is essential. Unfortunately learning a new language or acquiring bakery skills when you’re an absolute beginner can prove to be complex. We’ve all witnessed people promising to learn Russian after their third glass of vodka, only to give up after the first lesson. In order to avoid such disappointment, we recommend improving a skill you already have basic knowledge of. Achieving a perfect command of any topic is always easier when the topic in question is familiar.
Spending less time in front of screens
Whether it be TVs, computers or smartphones, screens have very blatantly become one of modern life’s most ubiquitous tools. They are extremely practical, both for work and leisure. We’re not even going to pretend that trying to limit yourself to spending maximum 2 hours a day in front of a screen is at all possible. This is all the more true when this decision was prompted by your drunk friends who are all tired of constantly seeing you answering emails. Also, how would you follow
Horace on Instagram if you gave up your smartphone?
Being better organised
Poet, writer, and Goncourt and Mallarmé literary academies member Robert Sabatier once stated: “disorder which we no longer dare to call disorder becomes a different order”. We will take his word for it, as it is a well-known fact that an untidy workspace can have a negative effect on creativity. This resolution is somewhat vague: attempting to put some order in one’s life is extremely ambitious. Where to start? Avoid many a headache by trying to find fulfilment in spontaneity, instead.
Eating healthy
The ill effects of fast food are very well documented, but we wouldn’t blame you for indulging in a burger or some fried chicken from time to time. Even more so following a night of heavy alcohol consumption. It would be quite a shame to take up a resolution you would have to give up on the very first day of the year.
Giving up smoking and (excessive) drinking
Putting a definitive end to these bad habits takes some time, effort, and constant discipline. Putting huge amounts of pressure on yourself on New Year’s Eve generally amounts to nothing good. On the other hand, making an appointment with your doctor for some proper counselling and setting up regular monitoring might be a good place to start.
Being less stressed
Quite the complicated task, this resolution requires some thinking in order to determine the most efficient ways to reduce your stress. In other words, making this resolution on a whim is setting yourself up for failure.
We recommend avoiding taking up too many resolutions at the same time: the more you have to keep, the more complicated each will turn out to be. And don’t forget: always do what seems best to you. You don’t have to wait until the New Year to take big decisions. You are a free man. In the words of a famous Canadian philosopher: “YOLO”.
Holiday season essentials
