New year calls for relationship resolutions
Did you make any New Year’s resolutions a year ago? The University of Scranton did a study and found that 92 percent of people who make New Year’s resolutions fail to keep them. With such a high failure rate, it’s no wonder people give up on making them.
Despite pessimistic forecasts, I still make resolutions. The definition of the word “resolve” is “a firm determination to do something.” I firmly determine every year to do something. I decide I’m going to live my life on purpose. Intentionally. With goals. Sometimes I accomplish them. Many times I don’t. But failure does not deter my quest for small successes.
This year, my main resolution focus is going to be on improving relationships. With family, friends, coworkers and even strangers. I am spurred on by columnist David Brooks who recently wrote:
About 60 percent of Americans are dissatisfied with the way things are going in this country ... The biggest factor is the crisis of connection. People, especially in the middle- and working-class slices of society, are less likely to volunteer in their community, less likely to go to church, less likely to know their neighbors, less likely to be married than they were at any time over the past several decades. In short, they have fewer resources to help them ride the creative destruction that is ever-present in a market economy ... It’s not jobs, jobs, jobs anymore. It’s relationships, relationships, relationships.
So this year, I’m making relationship resolutions. I’m resolving to prioritize people. To make time for unhurried conversations. To do less “accomplishing” and more “abiding.” To calendar personal appointments and keep my promises to show up and listen up.
Oh, I may throw in a few other resolutions that involve running and reading. But mostly I’ll be focusing on relationships. How about you? Are you making New Year’s resolutions this year? If so, put relationships at the top of your list. In the end, it’s all about relationships.