I honestly hate New Years.

Everything is winding down from the holidays, wrapping paper tumbleweeds are still rolling through my house, and the leftovers in my fridge might still be from Thanksgiving, who knows? This is NOT the time I want to sit down and plan my resolutions for the “New Year,” wear glitter eye shadow with a top knot, and pretend to be somebody when the clock strikes midnight. I just want like three more weeks to fix the old year before I go to a new one. Does anyone else feel this way? The New Year brings taxes, new commitments at work; puppy vaccines that make my dog hate me for like 3 DAYS! I can’t take this kind of pressure, much less try to stick to some convoluted exercise plan or remember to meditate twelve times a day. So this year I have decided to skip resolutions all together. They suck, they make me mad, and I’ve realized I have actually outgrown them anyway!

When I was a little kid, I would get so excited for New Year’s Eve to come. I saw it as a challenge, a rare escape from bedtime. I could prove that I was in fact a big kid, “grown,” and worthy to sit on the couch with my parents and watch the giant peach descend somewhere in Atlanta through my TV screen. Well, one parent anyway. My dad was the night owl, and he could easily stay up with us without batting an eye. My mother however was another story all together. The quintessential representation of an “early bird,” 4 am greeted her each morning like an old friend. 10 pm however might as well have been the dark side of the moon to her. She and it never crossed conscious paths except on rare occasion, New Years was no different. We would get our customary hug and kiss good night from the couch, and off she would go to bed. I always thought it odd, it was New Years! Time to create new plans, new habits, and to stay up late! Why would you want to miss such a thing? Now I get it. I really do.

There is an air of mysticism to New Years for a lot of us. That there is this opportunity that only comes once a year to put into place good habits and more importantly get rid of the old ones that plague us. Or is it? I feel like a lot of us, me included feel forced into accepting the New Year’s voodoo to publicly express dramatic changes that we will make in our lives in the new year, whether we want to or not. My point is this, screw resolutions for 2016. Changes you want to make in your life WILL BE whether or not they make it in a post on your Facebook timeline. Don’t feel pressured to do, commit to, or feel guilty for anything this new year. Start a day at a time, be the best you can be, and don’t let a date kill your jive to survive. Right now I’m doing good to find clean pants, but in March who’s to say I won’t be all over that yoga mat lying mummified in plastic in the back of my closet? This year I can honestly say I have outgrown New Year’s resolutions, and am happier for it!

Thanks for reading guys! The Happy Peach has some awesome things coming up in 2016, so stay tuned! If you enjoyed today’s post, please give it a like and a share. Have a Happy New Year, and remember it is OK to outgrow those pesky resolutions. – C