Dissolve the Resolve

Damn it! I had resolved to publish an article every fortnight since the beginning of the new year 2023. But as always, I didn’t get time, things got piled up, s**t happened, blah blah blah!

Now some of you will start thinking about your own plans that you had devised in the December of 2022, about the activities that you’re going to perform and the tasks you’re going to achieve in the year 2023. Well, I pray that it all works out well for you. If it did, very good! If it didn’t, let’s see what can be done about it in the thing I am about to write now.

A few years ago, when I was nothing but an over-enthusiastic teenager, wanting to achieve every possible task in my life. That day, the game of motivation was booming on YouTube. Motivational speakers from across the globe were saying things about affirmations, resolutions, etc. And all of them were able to garner the attention of all the kids like me.

In that flow of writing, I started writing my diary on a daily basis, and intermittently I would write a few things which I wanted to do and that would be my resolutions’ list in the end. It was basically a list of things out of which some were repetitive, while some were to be done once.

Then I started adding things one after the other every single year. Thinking that I would be able to kickstart my journey of completing these goals, I kept appending the list. I used to do one or two things from that list. But the list would only add up to a bigger number of goals that I want to achieve.

But slowly it became my habit of only writing the resolutions and not paying attention to the list at all. Every once or twice a year, I would update the list, and to no surprise, very few goals would be crossed out and new ones added. It is very disappointing to see that you’re not able to do anything when it comes to completion of tasks that are set by you.

Usually, the resolutions we set are supposed to be completed on the basis of availability of time and people that support us. I’m saying this from my own experience. To put it in other words, we are never completely on our own. Like it or not, somebody in the corner is doing something which is why we are able to do what we want to do. We cannot function in daily lives in complete isolation, as isolation itself is a consequence of many people not coming there or some people giving us the space we need.

One more thing that happens commonly is that we start our action towards achieving goals falling in our resolutions’ list. In the initial phase, the energy and drive are too high. We think that nothing can stop us in achieving these goals. But we don’t look over our shoulders. And slowly the baggage of different things comes into picture.

The graph of our energy spikes at the initial phase of our timeline for that goal, but later wanes down to zero and we’re left without any achievement. That brings about the sadness and madness of failure. Then we want to try completing something else. That follows the same path. Sometimes, this becomes a habit and we virtually never complete anything. Hence, no accomplishments. In the worst cases, we stop trying altogether.

Now the reason why I’m explaining the idea of failing to complete the resolutions can be understood somewhat properly. To get out of this endless loop, we need to understand that expecting a different result whilst doing the same action again and again is insanity. Nobody likes to be trapped in insanity hoping that there will be a way out. In order to break the loop we first need to eliminate the first action that initiates it. A specific event, let us take a new year’s example in this regard.

We really need to give opportunity to other days in the year, too. Whenever you feel like starting to do something, that is exactly when you need to take the smallest action possible in that timeline regarding that goal. That way, you’ll get a kick-start for actions and not wait until a particular day arrives when you have to do the math of goals and decide whether to do something or not. We mostly keep taking up multiple tasks throughout the day, everyday for a very long time.

After placing all of this argument for now, I’d say it’s time that everyone realises the potential and the need for action. Just jotting down, doesn’t help. Just doing affirmations, doesn’t help. Doing incremental work, however small it might be, will always produce the results in the long run.

And one most important thing. Life is not perfect, neither are you, nor you ever will be. So do expect failure at any point of time and be ready to start again. Because, it is only meaningful if you’re taking something fruitful away from it, even when you fail. And if possible, dissolve the idea of resolutions. Do something as and when you feel like, because planning can only make you perfect on paper (as long as it is not crumbled). But actions, basically living for what you like and love- is all that will count in the end. Cheers!