Is the tradition of New Year resolutions an absurdity?

A RESOLUTION is a mental commitment that an individual makes for reforming a habit or lifestyle or relationship by learning lessons from the past experiences.
And, New Year resolutions are the change-affecting commitments made by an individual that normally go into effect on New Year's Day. For this one is to reflect upon self-improvement annually and resolve to accomplish the improvement.
While stressing the need of resolution, Eric Zorn said, "Making resolutions is a cleansing ritual of self assessment and repentance that demands personal honesty and, ultimately, reinforces humility. Breaking them is part of the cycle."

On the other hand, there are critics of the New Year resolutions too. As Mark Twain has aptly remarked, "New Year is a harmless annual institution, of no particular use to anybody save as a scapegoat for promiscuous drunks, and friendly calls and humbug resolutions."
But the absurdities of the New Year resolutions can’t escape the mind of the wise. Here are some funny quotes describing the New Year resolutions as a foolery of mind:

• Oscar Wilde: Good resolutions are simply cheques that men draw on a bank where they have no account.
• Joey Adams: May all your troubles last as long as your New Year's resolutions!
• Jay Leno: Now there are more overweight people in America than average-weight people. So overweight people are now average…which means, you have met your New Year's resolution.
• James Agate: New Year's Resolution: To tolerate fools more gladly, provided this does not encourage them to take up more of my time.
• Anonymous: Many people look forward to the New Year for a new start on old habits.
• Anais Nin: I made no resolutions for the New Year. The habit of making plans, of criticising, sanctioning and molding my life, is too much of a daily event for me.

A few research studies inform that only about 12 per cent actually achieved their goals through the resolutions made on the eve of New Year. Anyway, about 10 per cent people of any group achieve their whether they resolve or do not. 

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