Bite-sized resolutions

New beginnings are often a matter of perspective.

- EMMELINE AGLIPAY-VILLAR

We run our lives based on clocks and calendars, but our divisions of time and date are largely man-made. There is nothing that prevents us from deciding that, starting right now, we will be different from who we were before. As we all know, however, things are rarely that simple in real life. Anyone who has ever tried to better themselves knows this. Inertia is not only a law that governs bodies in motion, but also personal character as well. Changing ourselves is difficult, whether it be breaking old habits or making new ones, improving our ethics or making different commitments of time; it is never easy to turn over a new leaf. This is why many of us wait for overt opportunities to make a change, some external sign to give us the green light to make a new attempt. This is one reason why the tradition of resolutions is so popular, and doing so on New Year's Day follows in the long history of self-renewals made at the changing of the seasons. When so many of us are making the same leap, it gives us more courage to attempt it ourselves, there being safety in numbers as they say.