The arrival of the New Year means that millions of people will resolve to make a change in their lives.  What is it about the New Year that makes people feel like they have to proclaim a resolution?  I suppose that the New Year is about celebrating the passage of time, remembering all that has happened over the past year and consequently with all of the retrospection we become introspective, thinking about how we can make the next year even better than the last.  And what often comes to mind is making big changes in something that we don’t like about ourselves or our lives. 

But making resolutions are often bound to backfire as sure as they begin because of the time of year, or more specifically, the season in which we are making them.  It is winter and winter does not facilitate the success of resolutions.

Probably the most common resolution most people make is to lose weight, and for women, it is almost guaranteed to end in failure.  Think about it, a woman resolving to lose weight in the middle of winter, when nature naturally packs on the blubber—well, it’s almost like a form of torture.  It is nearly impossible for a woman to lose weight in winter.  And men, while not quite as entrenched in the boat as women, are also geared to store fat and hibernate in wintertime. 

Another related resolution is to exercise.  I don’t know how many times I have heard my husband say, “I’m going to wake up an hour earlier and go for a walk before everyone gets up."  Of course, it never happens because it is too cold and the bed is just too darn warm and comfy.  And you can’t go for a walk after work because it gets dark earlier in the winter, and walking after dark in Altadena is taking one’s life in one’s hands (we don’t have sidewalks).  One of the only forms of exercising that I can do is swimming…and really, who wants to swim in the wintertime?  Even though the gym heats the water in the pool, it’s still uncomfortably cold once you get out.  I swim all summer long, but once the weather starts turning, forget it.  I make every excuse in the book to avoid swimming during winter.  And it really doesn’t help that I have put on that extra layer of blubber—seriously, no one wants to see that, least of all me.

Quitting smoking is another popular resolution.  Well, quitting smoking might actually be one resolution that could be more successful due to the weather.  The cold might help reduce the time that smokers would want to spend outdoors.  Then again, smokers might consider their cigarette their own little personal bonfire.  I suppose only a smoker can assess that.  Along the same lines, quitting drinking is another resolution many people choose.  But it’s winter…it’s cold outside.  A man’s gotta do something to keep warm.

Another common resolution is to eat better.  Again, it’s wintertime and all our bodies want are comfort foods and we all know comfort foods are not low fat, low caloric foods.  Our bodies get hungry when they are cold…probably because they know that adding more weight means that they will be warmer.  Salads and grilled vegetables are not really what our bodies have in mind when they are packing on the blubber.  Additionally, it is cold season, and what do ‘they’ say, “feed a cold?”…well, carrots are not going to fill a cold’s belly.  Then if you add kids to the soup, what responsible parent prepares them salads all winter long?  No, we want them eating nice, warm satiating foods and how can you expect to sit at the dinner table while your kids are happily slurping up that comfort food and you are eating “well”.  And we all know that we should all sit together for dinnertime, so you are out of luck.

Getting organized is another resolution that gets impeded by the season.  First of all, we generally have a pile of gifts from Christmas that need to find a place.  Trying to find more shelf space for my daughter’s new books, games, and toys means I have to rearrange her room once again.  My own pile of gifts sits in that pile until I’ve dealt with my daughter’s gifts and then put away the Christmas decorations and done my after-Christmas shopping and returned or exchanged, and often that pile sits there for months.  I once had a pair of pajamas that didn’t get returned until July.  In addition, because it’s colder and there are more rainy days, we tend to spend more time indoors which means rather than going to the beach or out to the park we end up in stores, shopping for ourselves, buying things for our homes, redecorating.  Not to mention that the “gloomy” weather often makes people feel down—and many people shop to feel better.  It all means we have to find space for all of the extras.  Forget trying to get organized during the wintertime—just ain’t gonna happen.  And really, who has the incentive to organize during the depressing wintertime anyhow?  

I could probably afford to resolve to do all of the above (except smoking and drinking), but this year, I resolve to not make any resolutions.  I refuse to disappoint myself by failing, yet again, to accomplish my resolution.  For some reason, I just gain more weight when I try to lose it.  If I try to set an exercise regimen I just grow to hate it.  If I try to eat better, I find that I’m constantly looking for something worse to stuff into my mouth.  No, I resolve:  no resolutions this year.  Oh darn it, there I go again…blowing my resolution.  Ah well, may you have a well fed, warm, relaxing, and disorganized New Year (but without that darned cigarette!).