There are a lot of benefits to making, and keeping, a resolution for the year, but is it really worth it?
Two roads diverged in a wood, and one led to no pizza for a year. Upon finishing your grueling challenge of abstaining from the favourite dish of the Ninja Turtles and students alike, there is no guarantee that you will be better off.
Let’s take the calories out of the equation. You may expect that you’ll get a special feeling after enforcing such strong self-discipline, but not so fast. If someone cuts pizza out of their diet for a year, they may just replace it with something else (other than tears). Quitting something straight up for a year is possible. I had no pizza in 2014. It’s also the year I had a burrito for the first time. If you live in Guelph, burritos might be an easy solution. If you fill the void with burritos instead of pizza, is that sense of accomplishment well-earned? Only you can judge this, but before you put in the energy it takes to undertake such a task, just be honest with yourself. Setting realistic and attainable goals for the future might be better than slip-sliding on possible-ish resolutions you know you’ll break, cheat, or exploit.
On the other hand, not eating pizza for a whole year and replacing it with better alternatives might be a good choice. Social clubs and groups of people across North America (and beyond) celebrate every occasion imaginable; birthday parties, wakes, engagements and volunteer meetings at The Ontarion (mostly) with pizza, making it even harder to quit. The trick to this is that it takes a grand level of resolve. It’s not something you can toe-dip into. You’ve got to quit cold pizza (turkey). Quitting anything at the stroke of midnight is tough. No one will look for you while trying to return your pizza love you left on the steps of the palace. Your friends might think you’re bonkers, and beware your associates setting up pizza traps. Some of our nearest and dearest have the best intentions, but may subtly—or not so subtly—try to knock you off track.
Whether it’s no pizza, no fast food, no meat, or no candy, you’ll face the same problems. If you’re determined to actually accomplish a resolution, feel free to set the bar low. Face it; you’ve never done it before, and trial by fire could be a terrible idea. Maybe your New Year’s resolution could be, “This year I will have no pizza in January.” Moderation is one way to lessen the amount of discipline needed to finish a resolution. You could decide to save less money after realizing your original target is not plausible, or choose to aim to able to run two kilometers instead of three by June.
Whatever you choose to do, weigh the weight of the resolve needed versus what you actually want, and try to get a feel for what you are physically and mentally capable of. Knowing yourself will allow you to set resolutions that you are more likely to achieve. If you’ve just started a tricky resolution, just remember that 2017 is less than 351 days away!