New Year Resolutions 2015: A beginning without promises

Ritu Singh/Shruti Saxena

2015 is just a stone's throw away! And each one of us must be lost in concocting the perfect beginning for 2015. Most of us are busy planning where to travel, where to shop and where to party! Topping this list is the most crucial question hammering our minds like Hamlet's existential crisis. The same cliched question which is shoved in our face repeatedly -What is your New Year resolution?

How about doing away with this secular tradition and unique idea of promises this year?

I don't mean to be pessimistic here, but want to emphasise upon the fact that if you are willing to make a concrete change in your life and are adamant and passionate about anything, you don't need the shelter of these resolutions. Also remember that the New Year is not some life changing event when some miracle will magically transform your life. The continuity of your life doesn't get affected by an event like New Year. Though it's always good to contemplate and reflect a little but coercing oneself to achieve some unrealistic goals is not fun. So set yourself free this year. Here are some other reasons why:

Be spontaneous, what's the fun in planning: You are not a robot. You are a human being endowed with a super mind that is forever evolving and changing. Random thoughts float across your mind just like you want to get hitched with your boyfriend one day and break-up the other. So how can you limit your mind to one thought for a whole year when we have myriad ideas every hour? One way is to keep aside all that planning and designing, because it's always fun being spontaneous! Well, take a cue from our King Khan's song: Har ghadi badal rahi hai roop zindagi! Convinced?

Be realistic: All resolutions seem very exciting at first, but the energy and enthusiasm soon fizzle out. In all gaiety and fun around, fuelled with the optimism rocket, you down chaar bottle vodka sloshed in the ocean of hopes and goals. And then the most awaited moment arrives: the declaration of your so-very-dear resolution. But after a few days, when you grill yourself on the burner about your unaccomplished goals, you are forced to gulp down a dish prepared with salt of guilt, sauce of displeasure with a topping of low self-esteem.

Celebrate each day of your success, make each day count: Set yourself free and give yourselves time as everything takes its own course. Don't be adamant to forcibly try to achieve it by setting targets. When you try to climb a ladder, every step counts. So, celebrate each step of your success and don't just blindly run in the race of fulfilling your resolutions. Live life to the fullest. Write a new chapter each day as life is a blank book.

Don't put enormous pressure upon yourself: Most of the times, we put so much of pressure upon ourselves that in the end the whole process becomes redundant and self-defeating. If it doesn't come naturally to you, it's not worth it. For e.g.: I had a friend who had decided to shed a considerable amount of weight and stick to a particular diet. In the beginning weeks, all was well but eventually stuck in the humdrum of this crazy life, she couldn't deliver what she promised herself. Seeing it as a sort of failure, she decided to starve herself so that she could reach her target at the end of the year. The result: She looked all pale and weak amidst all the New Year festivities.

Don't take yourself so seriously: The root cause of every problem is that we attach too much self importance and drag our egos into everything. Why do we have to weigh every aspect of our life? The burden of our aspirations coupled with the expectations others have from us has sandwiched us between the real world and the world of our dreams. Once in a while, it's good to take a break from this and let the feeling of lightness descend upon us.