EVER SINCE I first heard of the mania that is the New Year’s resolutions, I have been very fond of it. As a child, I even scribbled mine on colored or scented paper then filed them so I would know which I had kept and which I had broken. But when Dec. 31 of the past years came, I could not find my list. Searching through my piles of files was hopeless. If only I kept my one-time resolution to “never be disorganized.”
My early unsuccessful attempts to sustain my New Year’s resolutions didn’t discourage me from continuing the tradition. I even let some of my friends read my list and bragged about how eager I was to prove that I could accomplish every item.
But towards the end of a year, I didn’t only frustrate myself but also embarrassed myself for bragging.
In my first year in college, I promised that I would be thrifty to survive the city with my measly allowance. I bought a coin bank and planned to fill it with at least P10 a day. At the end of the year, I had but four five-peso and eight one-peso coins.
Once I also promised to take notes during class discussions so as to have ready references for quizzes and major exams. Come prelims and finals, I still found myself at the end of a long line in photocopy shops, with borrowed notebooks from classmates in hand.
The start of a new year always marks the birth of another resolution which I, sooner or later, may forget or break again. I am a perfect example of what you can call ningas-cogon— one among the many who get excited and eager at first but eventually lose the passion even before accomplishing anything. The eagerness diminishes as time passes by.
In past years, I made resolutions out of habit. They sure were fun and very encouraging at first but at the end of a year, I only grew more and more frustrated for not having enough will power to fulfill my own resolutions.
After years of making and breaking them, I’ve realized resolutions should not only spring on a new year. New year is only symbolic for trimming bad habits or ways we want out of our system. But it doesn’t mean we cannot start a resolution at the middle of the year. A sincere desire to change, not a “spur of the moment”, is all we need to sustain a resolution.
So as to remember and lessen the burden of starting change, I’m making only one for this year. My resolution is to keep my resolutions.
Prayer: Lord, we seek your guidance as we start a brand new year. Help us make 2006 the end of unkept promises and the beginning of a “new” us. Give us the determination to fight the ningas-cogon trait that hinders us from accomplishing these resolutions. May each one of us be responsible enough to abide by the resolutions we have set for we know they will make us the better persons you want us to be. Amen. Jose Teodoro B. Mendoza
