New Year's Resolution
Is this a better time to commit to change than any other?
New Year's By Randy Hicks, President of Georgia Family Council

I love lists. All kinds of lists. Lists of the best movies of all time, lists of the top college quarterbacks in history, lists of Olympic record holders, you name it.

From a variety of Internet sources, I've gleaned the following list of the top 10 New Year's Resolutions, and I wanted to share it with you. Really, there are no surprises here, but let's start with the Top 3 New Year's Resolutions.
1. Lose weight
2. Quit smoking
3. Quit drinking/drink less

Let's stop there for a minute. While this isn't the Top 3 on every list I found, these three are near the top on most. And they indicate dissatisfaction with habits people have developed, including overeating, "underexercising" or using substances people would like to quit using. However, the next four resolutions take on a different tone. Take a look…
4. Go back to school
5. Spend more time with
family and friends
6. Work on spiritual
growth
7. Help others/volunteer

I like these four resolutions because they show a desire to get beyond immediate self-gratification, or even self-improvement. Yes, continuing one's education is about bettering oneself; but it takes time, shows diligence and long-term planning to improve future circumstances. This list also shows the desire to build relationships - really important relationships with loved ones and with God. And, perhaps most notably, this list expresses a desire to help others; a truly honorable aspiration that I think expresses a need to do something significantfor someone besides "me."

Now, the final three…
8. Take a trip

9. Get out of debt
10. Get a better job

You can probably guess that, for me, these three resolutions pale by comparison to numbers 4-7. No, there's nothing wrong with any of them, but again they focus on what is best for "me."

So, let's go back to the second group of resolutions, and particularly, let's focus on 5-7.

I can always do better on numbers 5-7. It won't surprise you that as an organization, Georgia Family Council would strongly encourage every person in the state to spend more time with their families (Resolution #5). Time is such a precious commodity, and it is required in order to build healthy, strong relationships that can be sustained over a lifetime.

Personally, I agree that spiritual growth (Resolution #6) is good to pursue. My relationship with God is the most important relationship in my life, and it influences and improves every other relationship. Certainly spiritual growth is worthy of year-round attention.

I like looking at the lists of New Year's Resolution because they show us what people consider important. And they point out that when you boil it all down; most people aspire to make positive changes that will affect themselves or others. (Notice we don't see "spend more time at the office"or "drink more beer" anywhere on the list.)

I also find the lists a bit amusing. And I often ask, "Why do you need a new number at the top of your calendar to motivate you to do what's right or best for you?"

The coming of a New Year is a helpful time to reflecton what we like and dislike about how things are going in our lives. And all of the items in the list above are worthwhile Resolution goals. But is January 1st any more significantthan any other day of the year to make important commitments to improve ourselves and our relationships with others?

We ought to be about the business of making the right decisions - even making changes - throughout the year, without needing a new year to move us to action. After all, I think we'd all agree that our health, relationships, finances and other responsibilities don't all of a sudden become more deserving of our attention because of a date on the calendar.

We should commit to work harder to make our marriage work at the moment we realize the spark seems to be fading. We should make the time to spend with our kids at the moment we realize they have not been a priority. We should choose to change a habit when we realize that our health is suffering. If that day is January 1st, great. But so is April 25th and September 3 and any of the other 362 days of the year.

Part of me wonders if many of us may be less motivated to change our lives at this time of year because making a New Year's resolution is just something that everyone does. It's the same story year after year. Millions of us make New Year's resolutions, and millions of us break them. If the driving force behind our commitment is less about transformation and more about an annual ritual, then it's more likely that we won't succeed.

Instead of making a list of New Year's Resolutions, perhaps we should just resolve ourselves to be consciously attentive to the things that matter most throughout the year, and be willing to make positive change at the moment when it is needed.

Georgia Family Council is a non-profit organization that works to strengthen and defend the family in Georgia by equipping marriage advocates, shaping laws, preparing the next generation and influencing culture. For more information, go to www.georgiafamily.org, (770) 242-0001, stephen@ gafam.org.