What’s The Point of The New Me Scam?
It’s almost time for the new year to arrive, and as always, you are surrounded by people and content online that directs you to the “new year, new you” scam.
The year has been hard on you. There were ups and downs, successes and failures. You lost friends. You made new friends. You got new opportunities. You lost money. You made a living through hard work. Phew! With all that you’ve been through, you are definitely looking for a break, aren’t you?
And with the new year arriving, you get sold on the idea that if you make changes to your life, good things will happen. Making resolutions and counting on determination will help you succeed in life. It is the winning formula.
Hyped up on all these posts about others doing “it” too, you write up a list of how many changes you are going to make, starting from the first month of the year.
You are totally going to go to the gym, eat healthy, quit bad habits, attempt to socialize, and work on your career by possibly learning new skills.
This is achievable. You’re not adding items that are out of reach and will break your bank balance. Visiting expensive cities is not in your cards. Your car works and your phone too! So, no expensive purchases, and you can achieve all the basic items on your list. It is totally doable!
And then the new year rolls out, and suddenly, all of these items take too much effort.
You decide to join a gym. They have several membership tiers. The most basic one only lets you sit and lift dumbbells. The second tier allows you access to the pool but only for half an hour, and you have to bring your own towel. And the Zumba classes are only on tier five. And each level raises the cost of your membership.
So you look at the wallet, look at the membership fees, and decide that taking a walk in the fresh air is cheaper.
Except it is the winter months. It is either snowing, raining, or too cold to do anything but cuddle in bed. But by spring, you promise yourself that you will get back to working out.
Then spring does arrive, and you are stuck managing the account, and would you know it? It’s the busiest time of the year at your job.
Summer brings a horrible heat wave. You can’t risk dehydration. It is too dangerous to go out walking in the hot sun and get heatstroke. But by Autumn, you will be ready to take up exercise again.
But the fall season is also when schools open, life gets busier at work, and it is almost year-end, so companies have to work on the last quarter reports.
This year ran by quickly, but next year you promise to take care of your health.
You did try to eat healthy this year, but with so much going on, it’s not your fault that you had to resort to comfort food. And you were really trying to quit your bad habits, but it has been a rough year, and you had no support. No one at all except for yourself.
These may sound like excuses, but they are rarely that. Life can be tough. External pressures can derail the best laid plans. And people do end up leaving your life.
The point is that if life is so unpredictable, how can you expect to rely on what you believe to be predictable habits and change or not change them?
So, what is the point of the “new me” scam?
Guess what? Adding another year makes you older. Not newer.
You will still struggle. You will still learn to fight. You will learn to adapt.
You can write down as many resolutions as you want, but don’t expect you will be able to keep even one.
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