MEDIA CONTEST: Make today your "New Year" Published Dec. 28, 2006 Print Journalist of the Year Entry 4A ACC MEDIA CONTEST -- Another year has come and gone, and the New Year brings with it anticipation, optimism and, of course, resolutions. Honestly, I've never been a fan of New Year's resolutions. I'm not opposed to them; I just feel they don't create the best situation for success. If you have to resolve to stop doing something, start doing something or do something better, well, then you're not really dedicated to it in the first place. Maybe that explains why so many New Year's resolutions are broken so soon. Everyone knows what I'm talking about: The smoker who resolves to quit smoking, the drinker who resolves to quit drinking and the couch potato who resolves to start working out. We know how each one of those typically ends - the smoker goes about two hours before he's pulling his (or, worse, someone else's) hair out, the drinker falls off the wagon on Super Bowl Sunday and the couch potato makes it through a couple exercise sessions before pulling a hamstring and giving up. I'm not against people wanting to take any opportunity to improve themselves or their lifestyles. I'm saying if you want to improve yourself or your lifestyle, why does it have to start with New Year's Day? New Year's Day is among the most pointless holidays we recognize. I know, I'm a big party pooper, but who wants to argue this point with me? We're celebrating the fact that the Earth made it around the Sun again - the same as it's done about 4.5 billion times before. I suppose Armageddon could come tomorrow, but it still sounds like an excuse for people to get sloppy drunk to me. I'm not chastising anyone for celebrating the holiday - I take part in the festivities too - I'm just calling a spade a spade. The bigger issue is how bad do people really want to make these personal improvements? I'll use a very common New Year's resolution to make this point. If I'm a smoker, and I really want to quit smoking, why don't I quit today? Why should I have only begun to quit Jan. 1? If I'm analyzing that logic, the first thought I have is, "If I really wanted to quit smoking, I wouldn't procrastinate and wait for Jan. 1 to do it." It seems like quite the charade to me. Some will point out that many resolutions are made spontaneously as the New Year's bells toll. That's fine, but with age comes wisdom, and with what limited wisdom I possess at 28 years old, I've learned that of all the things I've done spontaneously, about 99 percent of them have backfired. With that in mind, why do I want to make a life-improvement choice on the spur of the moment? Experience has taught me it probably won't pan out. To be fair, I'm certain there's a percentage of the population that makes New Year's resolutions and sticks to them. I don't want to discourage those individuals. If it works for you, keep on doing what you're doing. I guess I just want to encourage that group of individuals to act now - don't wait. If you want to start working out, do your research and start as soon as possible. Jan. 1 may be the first day of the year officially, but that doesn't mean someone can't make today or tomorrow his "New Year" to quit smoking, quit drinking, start working out, further his education or whatever other goal he has in mind. The one thing I hope people take from this editorial is that the beginning of the new year isn't the only time they can choose to make improvements in their lives. Furthermore, rather than making "New Year's resolutions," why not make "everyday choices" to give yourself a better chance to succeed?