(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Did You Make New Year's Resolutions Today? [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags']
Date: 2023-01-01
Who is making resolutions today? Why do people decide to saddle themselves with a pile of shoulds and oughts and beat themselves up on New Year’s Day?
Stepping back and taking a hard look at the tradition, it seems like a sad way to begin a new year. Basically it’s saying “I suck. I’m not good enough. I need to struggle and suffer to be a better person.” How many of those resolutions are related to losing weight, exercise and diet and working harder? None of those things sound very happy to me.
Is the tradition sponsored by our capitalist overlords? All those internet videos and television commercials featuring people in the most unrealistic possible of situations and shaming the rest of us for not being like them? But wait, you CAN be like them if you spend money on this product. Uh-huh. Nope.
Did resolutions come from the Puritans who frowned upon anything remotely joyful or happy? No, it turns out, resolutions are a lot older than that.
Historically, the first recorded people to set new year pledges (later to become known as resolutions) are the Ancient Babylonians some 4,000 years ago. The Babylonians are also the first civilisation to hold recorded celebrations in honour of the new year. Though for the Babylonians the year began not in January, but in mid March, when the crops were being planted. New year resolutions for the Babylonians were intertwined with religion, mythology, power, and socioeconomic values. The Babylonians are said to have initiated the tradition of a 12-day new year festival called Akitu. Statues of the deities were paraded through the city streets, and rites were enacted to symbolise victory over the forces of chaos. During this festival people planted crops, pledged their allegiance to the reigning king or crowned a new king, and made promises to repay debts in the year ahead. The Babylonians believed if they fulfilled their new year promises, then the Gods would look favourably upon them in the new year.
Jump forward a few thousand years across continents and oceans, and you have early Americans in the 1900s making resolutions. Hey, I think we found the Puritans, after all!
As a legacy of our Protestant history, resolutions in the early 1900s were more religious or spiritual in nature, reflecting a desire to develop stronger moral character, a stronger work ethic, and more restraint in the face of earthly pleasures.
That last link gives you detailed instruction about how to make the right kind of New Year Resolutions. I didn’t read it. Just passing it along for readers who are more motivated than I am.
Why am I not motivated? People start out with good intentions and go to the work to write down all the oughts and shoulds and shames and stuff. Then they don’t follow through and that makes them feel bad. That’s me. I am “people.” Hey, it sounds better than using the editorial “we,” doesn’t it? How long do those intentions last? Hahahahahaha. According to gym membership records, a few weeks is about it.
My own list never changes. Lose some weight. Get in better shape. Eat healthier. All related in a way, yes? A wonderful new cookbook should help with that. Published by a world class authority on health. I shouldn’t tell you who it is, since I’m about to trash the hell out of it.
This expertly authoritarian healthy cookbook contains recipes that would make top chef candidates cry. The diet specifies 25 servings of different foods every day. One recipe requires from 13 to 22 ingredients, diced, pureed, slivered, marinated and uses every pan and dish and utensil in the kitchen, plus a couple of machines that I don’t even have. It lists ingredients that I’ve never heard of and a garnish that costs ten dollars an ounce (or thirty dollars a pound if you order online.) At five hours of shopping and prep time per recipe, that comes out to 125 hours of work per day of food. Even if I wanted to do that, it would be impossible without hiring a crew of kitchen elves.
Okay, nevermind. My kindest review of that book would be, “unrealistic.”
The book is filled with passive-aggressive snide little digs about convenience foods, organic foods, vegan foods, and the evils of fat, sugar and sodium and processed foods. Well, I never knew a cookbook could be both elitist and classist, but that one definitely is. Does it go in the donate pile or back on the cookbook shelf? I’m sorry I bought the damn thing.
I already know that frozen pot pies and junk food are less good for you than vegetables and whole grains (I have a college degree a in nutrition-related major). That said, I resent the hell out of arrogant cookbook authors rubbing your nose in shame about ‘healthy’ food. I resent them assuming that everyone has unlimited time and money to spend on fresh and expensive food. Rule #1 of writing for an audience is to give them something they like and enjoy. People don’t like being talked down to, shamed and guilted.
If I ever write a cookbook, it will be to make people happy. Maybe that should be my goal for the new year. Create a happy cookbook. Now there’s a New Years goal I like. It’s a resolution I might even enjoy working on.
What (or did you?) kind of resolutions did you make for the coming new year?
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/1/1/2144830/-Did-You-Make-New-Year-s-Resolutions-Today
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
