A Different Perspective On 2014 Resolutions - Fashion News

Illustrated by Sydney Hass.

Ugh, January 1. It's a hard day — and not just because your brain is probably threatening to ooze out of your ears at any moment (for more on that, see our recommendations for some excellent hangover cures). Add the pressure of a "fresh start," and it's almost unbearable.

Okay, so maybe that's a bit of a pessimistic way to begin things. This is, literally, a new year! What better time to get a fresh life and finally do everything you've always wanted? We humans require compartmentalization and organization to make us do things; we can't just change at any old time — we have to wait until the calendar tells us it's the right moment. And, honestly, for a lot of people, New Year's resolutions can be a great thing. In fact, we offer quite a few different approaches to finding and sticking to the right goals. But, sometimes we do wonder if there isn't an alternative perspective that ought to be mentioned.

For some of us — particularly, er, the lazier types — those resolutions can actually be more of a negative force than a positive one. They are, to put it bluntly, just another excuse to not actually do anything. First of all, you get to put off your goals until 1/1, which makes for a very unproductive December. Then, there's the fact that sometimes, especially when the goals are loftier and more existential than working out or cleaning your closet, labeling something a resolution can actually be dangerously reductive. If your particular resolve is connected to some deep unhappiness or a buried desire you're wary to acknowledge, calling it a resolution only lets you wrap it up in a nice package that, in the end, can be just as easily discarded as an outstanding credit card bill.

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