It's time to resolve to resolve for the new year
ESSENTIAL NEWS. December 18, 2025. Florida Weekly
Well, Christmas has finally arrived, and a new year looms.
Once we’re finished opening our presents and jamming the boxes and wrapping paper into the recycle bin, it will be time to begin our annual effort at self-improvement.
Yes, it’s time to start planning to plan our New Year’s resolutions.
The first people to make these resolutions were the ancient Babylonians, who 4,000 years ago celebrated the start of the new year in mid-March.
As you can see, they totally got things off to a bad start by using a defective calendar. Still, these pioneers of self-improvement vowed to do three things with the annual flip of the calendar page:
Pay their debts.
Return all borrowed objects.
Live forever
It is unknown how successful your average Babylonian was at achieving those first two goals, but they totally flopped on the third one, marking the first time—but not the last—when unrealistic New Year’s resolutions ended in frustration.
So, should we just give up?
Studies show that between 80 and 90 percent of New Year’s resolutions fail in the first few weeks. One of the reasons this happens is, like the Babylonians of old, we are too ambitious in our goal setting.
How to be successful?
Here are my favorite bits of advice gleaned from extensive research (meaning I browsed the internet while writing this):
Narrow your goals. For instance, instead of resolving to “lose the pot belly,” make a goal to, say, “get down to that 215 pounds I claimed I weighed.”
Break each goal into smaller, more achievable parts. Using the weight loss example, break it into, say, fifty smaller goals of losing a pound a week.
And be specific. How will you lose a pound a week? More time walking; less time in the golf cart? Cutting back on the cheeseburgers? Write down what you’re willing to do and what you’re going to give up to make it happen.
Keep your list small. Achieving even one goal can be a huge boost to most people’s self-esteem, and who among us doesn’t need that?
And while you’re planning to plan your resolutions for the coming year, here are a few things to know about the remaining days of 2025:
This Weekend
December 27 is National Make Cut-Out Snowflakes Day. This is a special holiday in South Florida where children are encouraged to enter the imaginary world in which ice crystals mysteriously fall from the sky, no two looking exactly alike.
But are snowflakes real? Any children living here who have never left South Florida wouldn’t know for sure.
We haven’t had a snowfall hereabouts in living memory—although there are rumors that maybe a few decades ago snowflakes were spotted in Miami, which isn’t as sheltered from the cold as Florida’s west coast and the warm breezes of the Gulf of Mexico.
December 28. Pledge of Allegiance Day. The pledge was originally written by Captain George T. Balch, a Civil War veteran. It read:
“We give our heads and hearts to God and our country; one country, one language, one flag!”
Today’s pledge, of course, is directed at the American flag itself, and there is no mention of “one language.”
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
Careful readers will note that neither version suggests that those taking the pledge are swearing allegiance to any elected politician, president, or whatever. That’s because we are a Republic, not a monarchy.
The Rest of December
December 29. Tick Tok Day. This refers to the clock, not the social media app, which, shockingly, is still around even though it has been officially banned by the federal government for the past year. Tick Tock Day is a reminder to finish your unfinished business for the year.
December 30. Festival of Enormous Changes at the Last Minute. Yet another reminder that the clock is ticking down to the new year, and this is your last chance to do something worthwhile in 2025.
December 31. New Year’s Eve. By now you should have finished planning to plan your resolutions, and it’s time to celebrate by tuning in the TV to watch hordes of freezing, uncomfortable people crammed into Times Square for hours on end without bathrooms to observe a bejeweled ball drop from a building. So much fun!
J.C. Bruce is an award-winning journalist and author of the Strange Files series of mysterious adventures. He holds dual citizenship in the United States of America and Florida. Check out his website, jcbruce.com, for details on how to order copies of his books. Copyright, 2025, J.C.Bruce