Tennessee by Niklaas

Tennessee by Niklaas - January 2016 Scholarship Essay

New Year’s Resolutions are made to be broken. From what I have seen, many people make them, only to last a week (optimistically) and give up. Whether it’s going to the gym, or being nicer to people, or drinking less, it seems to me that no one takes resolutions very seriously. I too am no better. I find myself regretting the commitments that I made at the start of the year, and then realize: I do not have to do this. There was no contract. I will just forget them and pretend I never made them.
This has happened to me several years in a row, and nothing has been accomplished from me making New Year’s resolutions. So this year, I decided to dupe myself by turning the tables and stating that my resolution is to not give up on my other resolutions. In doing this, I have no choice but to comply. I have effectively confounded and confused my lazy alter-ego and done something unheard of. Now I have no choice but to go to work out at the gym, eat healthier, not procrastinate on homework, and be more social. My lethargic self can only watch helplessly as he is forced to improve and become a better person, cursing under his breath, all the while attempting to hatch some evil scheme and devise some loophole in which he can go back to eating ice cream and watching Netflix all day. Unfortunately for him, there is no getting around this. I have finally outsmarted him. Perhaps you too can overcome your laziness by forcing yourself to in some way to committing to your resolutions. The best thing is, you do not have to wait for some holiday to make new ones.
In a dire attempt to not go back on their word, people hope that a new year means a new start, and that it will somehow have a greater effect on their plans. Which is completely ridiculous. You can start today if you really wanted to. Don’t believe in yourself as you will most likely only let yourself down. In turn you will go back to crying in your ice cream bowl to cope. So instead of doing the clichéd thing, do the right thing, and make yourself suffer in pain and agony as you improve dramatically. You will thank yourself, someday. Probably.