The Resolution Revolution, Part 9

(NOTE: TODAY’S POST IS A CONTINUATION OF YESTERDAY’S POST. TO START AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS ESSAY, SCROLL DOWN TO PART 1 AND MOVE UP FROM THERE.)


3. Unrealistic New Years Resolutions set us up for failure, which in turn can be so demoralizing that we actually end up even worse off than we were before.

How many times can a person try and fail at something before finally giving up all together? If every unrealistic resolution sets us up for yet another failure, then by going through the same motions every year we’re only piling up the failures that will lead to our inevitable surrender. And we all know what something looks like once we’ve surrendered.

Haven’t given up yet? Don’t be so sure. If your house is a mess despite annual resolutions to the contrary coupled with year after year of good intentions, the truth is that some part of you may have given up a long time ago, whether you realized it or not. Call it “resolution rebound.” Demoralized by previous failures, you continue to pay lip service to the idea of a clean home, but in reality you no longer even bother to try.

Sure, maybe you tell yourself it’s all just temporary, that you’ve given yourself a free pass but only until your youngest starts to school or you move into a bigger house or whatever other convenient excuse happens. (We housekeeping-impaired will do anything to keep from having to face the full evidences of our own failures!)

Trust me, I speak from experience. I’ve been there myself. Until I discovered how to have a House That Cleans Itself, my life was a sad series of resolve, attempt, failure, disappointment, defeat, and excuse, year after year after year. Some years, just making the resolutions themselves was so exhausting that I’d never even get around to actual implementation.

If your resolutions inevitably fail, it’s time to stop making them in the first place, less you make things even worse in the long run!

BE SURE TO COME BACK TOMORROW FOR THE NEXT PORTION OF THIS ESSAY.