Start the New Year With a Revolution!

My daughter, Courtney, noticed a few ignorant people on social media replaced New Year’s Resolutions with New Year’s Revolutions. It made me think. (Keep in mind, I’m still on Oxycodone after my surgery last Monday.) Revolutions might be a better word!

First of all, the Earth “revolves” around the Sun in one year’s time. The start of the New Year begins after a complete revolution.

We all want to make changes or reach goals in our lives. You don’t? Wow. Lucky you. I think the promises we make on New Year’s Eve are closer to revolutions than resolutions since they require a huge change in our lives. Oh sure. If your only goal in 2015 is to take more vacations, I wouldn’t call that a revolution. But if you want to make a lifestyle change, that my friend, will take a revolution.

According to the Web dictionary, Revolution is a forcible overthrow of a government or social order in favor of a new system.

Whoa! That sounds intense, but isn’t a big lifestyle change intense?

Maybe that’s why it’s so hard to complete our resolutions. We have to overthrow our normal belief system, habits, and everyday lives, in order to change. This requires time, commitment, and management. We all have the same twenty-four hour day, but we are creatures of habit. Even if we have unstructured time, we probably have a routine. Motivating to get off the couch and into the gym can take monumental effort, or this shocking bracelet.

We are two weeks into the New Year and I would guess most people have already bailed on their New Year’s Resolutions or haven’t started. If we changed it to revolutions, the connotation alone sounds more serious. A complete revolution requires mental toughness, a schedule, and some new rules in order to make changes.

Will I make some personal revolutions while the Earth saunters around the Sun? You betcha. Here are some tricks:

I believe in the self-affirmation of writing down goals. I have a long list, so I will pick out a few. After guestimating how long it will take, I’ll check the calendar, set aside some time, and start. I’ll visualize finishing my goal. Breaking down the day in manageable pieces worked for me during NaNoWriMo. I’ll set a word total or block of time for editing every day. I have to go to the gym for rehab, so I will start the year on the right foot (or the left, in my case. Pun intended). If all goes well, I should overthrow any laziness and get revolutionized in 2015!

• The History of New Year’s Resolutions dates back to the Babylonians who promised their gods they would repay debts and return borrowed goods.
• The Romans started each year with promises to the god, Janus, of which the month, January, is named.
• During Medieval times, knights took the Peacock Vow promising to be more chivalrous. Hey! I’m all about peacocks and chivalry.

Are you ready to revolt?