At some point in the transition into the new year, year-end lists and personalities of the year make way for resolutions and Hollywood movies to look forward to. It is not a subtle process, a gradual change-over like summer standing aside for autumn or winter fading into spring.
The abruptness can be startling. Already in these first few days of 2012, I've noticed it. You are telling someone about the best books you read last year and he responds by telling you he will not be smoking from now on, thank you very much.
Sometimes you can discern the change in a single sentence. The speaker might say, for example, "Midnight in Paris was such an enjoyable movie, Woody Allen at his best, and the manner in which F Scott Fitzgerald held his cigarette....which reminds me, I have sworn to give up smoking..."
I don't have the statistics with me, but I would guess that giving up things (smoking, beverages, deep fried stuff), taking on things (fitness plan, a new skill), keeping things on an even keel (spending more time with the family, helping others, not making resolutions) would make up the bulk of the resolutions for the new year.
I would imagine that if you made a resolution, you would keep it to yourself and not brag in advance so everyone can point fingers at you when you fail within the first 15 days of the new year.
For years, however, pop psychologists have recommended that you talk constantly about your resolutions so that other people can help you keep them. For example, if I swear to go off Woody Allen movies and announce it to enough people, I would hesitate to watch one in case I receive a tap on the shoulder and a pained shaking of the head from a well-wisher. Which is fine except that the technique will ensure there are fewer and fewer people who would cross a road to say hello to you. No one wants to listen to another person's resolutions when they have their own to publicise.
In any case, the popular resolutions don't really apply to me (since you asked). I work from home, which means my family might hope I would spend less time with them in 2012.
I can't quit smoking because I haven't restarted in years.
I would like to learn something new, though - perhaps how to ski in my study while speaking German and planning to build a sports stadium.
No, I think I will stick to my one resolution, made year after year and broken year after year: I shall attempt to read Marcel Proust's À la Recherche du Temps Perdu. If you catch me without the book, please remind me.
