We’ve had Christmas, Boxing Day is past, Kwanzaa has been celebrated, we’re halfway through Hanukkah, so it must be time for the final event of the holiday season: Resolutions Day.
You might know it better as New Year’s Day, but once the turkey dinner is over, there are just three main topics of conversation: leftover turkey sandwiches, top-ten lists and resolutions for the new year.
It’s not a bad way to finish up the year. Even if you’ve given up on making New Year’s resolutions, taking the time to reflect on where you’ve been and where you are going is always a good way to learn and improve.
According to an Ipsos Reid poll, only 30 per cent of Canadians will make a New Year’s Resolution. When it comes to keeping them, the numbers are even more disheartening: 73 per cent will eventually fail.
A common reason for why so many fail is that we ask too much of ourselves all at once, or are too vague: live a healthier lifestyle, focus on positives, save more money, learn something new.
The recommendation is to start small, with a goal you can succeed at, and develop from there.
And here’s a small suggestion: one resolution we like to suggest each year is to lend a helping hand, a category of resolutions that doesn’t often make it into the top-10 most popular resolutions.
For instance, think about what would happen if we all resolved to increase our donations to the food bank, or your favourite local charity, by a few dollars a month. If only a third of Penticton’s 14,000 households donating $5 more per month, $280,000 more aid would be flowing into the coffers of service groups.
Then there is the gift of your time: so many organizations can use more hands to accomplish their goals. A good place to start would be by contacting the South Okanagan Similkameen Volunteer Centre and finding out where you could help.