It’s human to use significant days as turning points and it works - well at least for some people. Many people make New Year resolutions; some endeavor to fulfill them while others simply never try and forget them faster than a baby forgets a danger zone. But what about the ones who end up with an obsession? You may wonder and think of all the strange things to be obsessed with- but you best believe that this is a pretty common thing.

New Year resolution addiction isn’t like being addicted to alcohol or pain killers. Those are things a true addict will need in their system to keep them going. Resolutions come once a year. According to Dr. Jason Selk on enhancedperformanceinc.com, "Human beings are goal striving organisms. We experience more joy and satisfaction from striving to achieve our goals than we do from actually achieving them.”

"It’s easy to forget this because we live in such a result-oriented society. Like it or not, the key to happiness and success lies in the efforts we place towards achieving the goals we have set for ourselves.”

I suppose then we can’t blame people for obsessing about New Year resolutions, can we? I believe that the best way to get through our resolutions without wanting to tear down the wall when things don’t work out for us is to set fun and light resolutions. I don’t know if it is making unrealistic goals but one thing’s for sure; things do not always go the way we want them to. The problem is, many of us have absurd expectations, now combine that with an ‘all or nothing’ persona and you have a formula for disaster.

The heavy stuff is great because it motivates us but then again, there is only too much we can do. We are mere mortals and did not spring from some misplaced space iota like Clark Kent (read Superman). Overwhelming yourself with all this resolution pressure will only make you old and I doubt you have "No Aging” written down on your resolutions list, so take a chill pill and take things one day at a time.

There is no fun in getting to the end of the year then beating yourself up for not accomplishing even a third of your supposed goals because you were in hospital half the time suffering from anxiety and God knows what else. Learn to do things at a speed branded to man because the truth is that we are not chemically engineered so anything can happen when pursuing unrealistic dreams. I’m just saying.

That said; do not let the pressure get to you. Make goals you can at least accomplish a tenth of. Do not beat yourself down for what you failed to do if time wasn’t on your side. Just keep on working on those dreams as the days go by without turning into a robot!

Happy New Year!
rachelgaruka@yahoo.co.uk