10.

That happy guy in the photo is me as a kid, unencumbered in life, as one without responsibility would be. It may be mid-February, but this is my first post of the year and I want it to set a tone for 2018’s blog posts. I want to talk about New Year’s Resolutions, and share mine with you.

First off, I would like to mention that I’m not totally sold on the contemporary idea of the New Year’s Resolution. I can’t seem to grasp why we make commitments to ourselves that are often abandoned with shame or indifference, and that this has become a known cultural norm. We’ve satirized our quest for self-betterment. We create an end goal, and make a promise to ourselves to get there within a year, but don’t break it up into more manageable goals. Most often these goals are lofty and doomed to failure if not planned out properly. Instead of concrete accomplishments, maybe resolutions should be viewed as a system of guidance for choices that we make regularly.

Choice and agency are powerful tools that we’re privileged to as humans, and particularly as people living in North America. The choices that we make impact ourselves and those around us in varying degrees that are dependent upon our location and socio-economic status. A lot of the time I find myself making assumptions about why people choose what they do, and trying to anticipate their decisions. No one can know another’s motivation without asking. Therefore, my resolution for 2018 is to ask if I want to know something. The choices I make for this year will be dependent on the answers that I’m given. I’m going to explore this idea of choice throughout the year in these posts, and would be interested to hear your opinions along the way.