SINGAPORE - The end of the year is usually a time to spend and celebrate. And for many, it‘s also to keep to a time-honoured tradition of making a resolution for the new year.
"To be nice to my wife all year - that‘s my New Year‘s resolution, because she‘s very nice to me," said a member of the public.
"(We‘re) planning on buying a bigger house. And hopefully, after buying the house, it‘s to have a baby," said another.
"I‘m going to study hard for my ‘O‘ levels, play less and work more," said a third.
Hitting the gyms more often is one resolution that‘s cited by many.
Gym operators said attendance numbers tend to go up at the start of the year, but decline as the months pass by.
So if most people tend to break their New Year resolutions, why do they make them in the first place?
"You have to look forward to something. But it‘s good to break them so you can make a new one again," said one person.
Psychologist Danny Ng said one way to keep your resolution is get the message out loud and clear.
"Normally it works best when we have someone that we are willing to be accountable to. In other words, a statement like ‘I wish to spend more time with my family‘, if we are sincere and seriously considering it, then we‘ll say to our family members and make this commitment to them," said Dr Ng, a consultant psychologist at Raffles Hospital.
So, many continue to make resolutions because they believe that next year will be different. And with some planning, that could very well come true in 2008.
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com (27 Desember 2007)
