Best New Year's Resolution: To Thine Own Self Be True

As 2006 starts chugging to a close, the inevitable question begins to arise: What is your New Year’s resolution going to be? My suggestion is to take a moment, or two, and consider a little of Shakespeare’s best advice: “to thine own self be true.”

Some people make too many New Year’s resolutions, others make the anti-resolution resolution. The truth is that no goal is worth undertaking unless it reflects who you truly are. We are constantly bombarded with external opinions and beliefs from other people. We get them from the news, the internet, mother-in-laws. The list is endless. It seems that even the kid whipping out macchiatos to AM commuters has some small tidbit of advice to add to our over-stimulated minds.

The additional burden of thinking about what to make for a New Year’s resolution is likely what drives many people into year’s end melancholy. The likely failure of a daunting task like losing 100 lbs before Memorial Day (when unnecessary) or saving half your paycheck each month (when you know you can’t) just adds to the clutter of the mind. The changes you desire will happen naturally when you clear your head for a moment and listen to yourself.

It sounds simple enough but when was the last time you actually did this? With the constant din of things to be done, people to please and deadlines to meet blaring in your noggin’ it’s not possible. The term “I can’t hear myself think” has become the modern day mantra that is exacerbated by constant contact to the outer world through cell phones, television and the internet. Before you sign yourself up for a New Year’s resolution be sure it is something you want for yourself, not what others deem necessary.