New Year enthusiasm often wears off quickly

Islamabad : As the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Eve, millions around the globe welcome New Year with high hopes and a list of resolutions. The New Year's night starts with fireworks, jubilation, renewed enthusiasm, and a pledge to do something new from scratch.

From losing weight to launching businesses, embarking on new hobbies, and promising to explore new hangout places, the enthusiasm is unending. However, as January progresses the once-vibrant resolutions seem to be withering under the pressure of procrastination and ceasing motivation. Fitness centres and beauty salons witness a lot of surge in their services because of wedding season and they offer special packages for their services just to look fit and presentable in the functions. Yet, as the months progress, once crowded gyms get deserted as people abandon their fitness goals over some time.

Gym zone instructor Shehzad while talking to ‘The News’ said that there is a surge of customers in the new year as people make new year resolutions to shed off the winter weight and look smart. "The initial excitement often wears off quickly. People find it challenging to sustain the discipline required for long-term weight loss. The most important thing is sustainability in every pledge we make to ourselves. Consistency, discipline, and sustainability are the key factors in any venture we take up in life. If these things are absent, we cannot sustain anything in life.

Komal Khan, a professional baker while talking to this scribe said that entrepreneurs get temporary setbacks in their business and get demoralized to continue the business. The visualization of a prosperous business is hindered when faced with the stark realities of initial challenges and risks. "Motivation can easily fizzle out when it is faced with the complexities of entrepreneurship," It's crucial to set realistic goals and stay persistent even when the initial enthusiasm fades," she said who started a cake business recently. Newly acquired hobbies and passions face a similar fate. Art supplies, musical instruments, guitars, keyboards, and exercise machines, all remain untouched after a few weeks of enthusiasm and gather dust as the buyer loses interest or gets bored after using them for a few weeks.

Shehzore said my teenage daughter downloaded the language learning app and used it to learn the Korean language for her new year's resolution, but as the month progressed she lost interest and said that she deleted the icon when I inquired about the progress.

Shaista, a secondary school teacher said, “Our youth underestimate the effort required to master a new skill. When the initial excitement wanes, it gradually succumbs to procrastination. Besides, our youth gets easily distracted towards quick entertainment, and acquiring new things requires perseverance. Most of the time our work commitments, family responsibilities, and financial situation restraints our temporary new year resolutions and aspirations. It's not that all new year resolutions are a failure and unachievable at all but the key lies in creating realistic, sustainable plans, and breaking down larger goals into manageable steps. One step at a time and smaller deadlines for each achievement marks the key for each mission. Many have achieved their new year resolutions and make drastic changes in themselves and their lives and stick to the pledges they made to themselves," she said.