With the coming of the new year, we’re reminded of the goals we achieved in 2018 and how we wish to better ourselves in 2019. New Year’s resolutions allow us to collectively make our personal vows to better ourselves.
In the Beginning
The New Year’s resolution claims its roots over 4,000 years ago. Historians believe that the Babylonians were the first to take part in this practice. At the harvest, they made promises to their gods to pay their debts and return any items they had borrowed. If they fulfilled their promise, they earned favor with the gods. Failure to abide by their promise meant falling out of the gods’ favor—a terrible fate.
Other New Year’s resolution traditions
Thousands of years later, the Romans followed a similar ritual. Around 46 B.C., Caesar changed the calendar so that January 1 heralded the beginning of the new year. Because the month of January received its name from Janus, the god of transitions, the Romans spent January making sacrifices and promises for the new year.
Early Christians began using the new year to renew their covenants with God, reviewing past mistakes, and vowing to do better. The founder of Methodism, John Wesley, even created a special service held on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day called the Covenant Renewal Service. Christians would gather and sing hymns and re-avow their lives to the Lord. Today, many congregations still hold special New Year’s Eve services.
Modern resolutions
Today, somewhere between 40% and 50% of Americans make New Year’s resolutions every January 1. Although making a personal promise on this date may seem arbitrary, the practice has psychological backing.
Any goal that you have needs social support. If you keep your goals to yourself, it’s easy to make excuses or cheat on your plans. A public announcement of your New Year’s resolution allows you to have your goal heard, encourages accountability partners, and gives you extrinsic motivation from family and friends.
Beyond our goals of making a difference in the lives of our customers and the community, our Simple Box family has come up with their own resolutions for the year. Perhaps you’ll see your resolution on here. Maybe it will inspire you to make your resolution public so that you, too, can become a better you in 2019. Regardless, we encourage you to leap into 2019 with good spirits, great goals, and optimism for the future.
Our resolutions:
Gillian
My resolution is to continue to work on healthy choices for the body, mind, and soul!
Stacy
My New Year’s resolution is to focus on my family, love myself more, and cherish this life I was given.
Aubree
I want to really focus in on my overall health and get out and explore more!
Sherri
Quit smoking sometime in 2019.
Reneé
Losing weight is my first priority this year. Second is to de-clutter!
Hailee
To read more and to stop settling for things because it’s easy. Instead I’ll strive for what I want.
Brittney
Our family hopes to start our foster/adoption process this year, which is definitely our biggest goal/resolution for 2019.
Danika
Our goal for 2019 is to become homeowners.
Candy
My resolution for myself: lose 30 pounds.
Ross
If a resolution is a decision to do something or not do something, my “Do” resolution is to run a marathon under 4 hours 15 minutes, and my “Don’t” resolution is to not complain about anything related to money in 2019.
Mark
My resolution is to eat healthier and shed a few pounds and work on quitting smoking!
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