A supreme exercise in futility
January 1st, 2008 • chatter
So the new year is here and many heads hung low today, no doubt due to capacious celebrating the flip of the calendar. My celebration included much of the same but in less copious amounts and with my dearest of friends. I was interviewed by a friend on what my jobs in the IT/Computer Science field have taught me and the value of staying in academia. Our ever quiet mutual friend LogosX too lent his bountiful knowledge to a 45 minute interview of why most careers suck and how enriching being a college professor can be. The only problem is none of us are professors, yet, although the interviewer is a teacher at Kaplan and does tend to lecture at FAU. When the interview and ensuing discussion is up, I shall link.
We spent the night doing what most people around the world were doing: drinking various alcohols, singing absurd songs, and reveling in the conversations. We saw fireworks, drank champagne, and I watched the Auburn-Clemson bowl game off and on through the night while trying to call people and send text messages. But one thing none of us did was make any New Year’s resolutions. Why not? Most of us had the same answer that we never hold to them and think it’s a silly past time. While I agree wholeheartedly, and haven’t made a resolution in nearly a decade, I can see why people make them. It’s a first hand experience in futility, for the most part. People want to feel self-empowered, like they can declare their entire year will be different and stick to their guns, all the while pounding down beers or emptying expensive flutes of bubbly. Resolutions make people feel like they have self control even though they’re indulging in excess, self control be damned. Self-empowerment feels good, it gives you gestalt, makes you feel like you know what the hell you’re doing. That 9th beer you had makes you feel like a superhero too but it’s not empowering at all. And this is why it’s a futile exercise. Most people know that their resolutions are just something to say to fit in; fitting in can make one feel empowered and in control.
I’m not against making resolutions but I don’t know why people do it year after year of failing to fulfill the last ones. How many times have you heard your friend(s) say they’re going to drop those extra pounds and get in shape only to gain a few extra pounds and have that shape turn into round? Or they’re going to get their finances in order and make a ton of money or win the lottery? It’s as if the majority of people like to fail so they can resolve to fix themselves, only to inevitably fail again. Why set yourself up for disappointment or failure? Just seems to painful to me. Granted there’s a percentage of the population who can make reasonable resolutions and stick to them but I’ve yet to see them as the majority. We’re all a bunch of sadists who just have to forever fix ourselves.
Resolutions bring to mind a great quote I heard years ago, I can’t even remember the source but I swear it was Van Wilder
Worrying is like a rocking chair. It’s something fun to do for a while but it doesn’t get you anywhere.
So why should a stick-to-your-guns-change-myself-forever resolution be any different if you keep making them and fail?