New Year Resolutions: Manifestations, Gratitude, and the Great Circus of Optimism
As we teeter on the edge of 2025, the air is abuzz with the familiar annual ritual: The Resolution Season.
It’s that time when everyone on social media & YouTube suddenly becomes a guru, urging you to embrace your “highest self:” while guilt-tripping you into thinking last year was wasted because you failed to wake up at 5 AM, meditate for an hour, and run a marathon before breakfast.
This year, it’s not just about shedding holiday kilos or starting an exercise plan. Oh no, the bar has been raised.
Now you must manifest the life of your dreams. Apparently, if you scribble your wishes down every morning with enough conviction (and maybe a scented candle burning nearby), the universe will magically deliver a farm house, perfect abs, and inner peace—all wrapped up in a neat cosmic package.
Of course, this must be accompanied by a gratitude ritual.
Every morning, you’re expected to wake up, sip herbal or green tea, and jot down three things you’re thankful for. It doesn’t matter if you slept badly, spilled the morning cuppa, or realized it’s Monday—you must dig deep for those nuggets of joy:
• “I’m grateful my Wi-Fi hasn’t given up yet.”
• “I’m grateful I haven’t eaten the chocolate ice-cream tub…yet.”
• “I’m grateful I remembered to write this down before I read the morning paper headlines telling the globe ‘how Trump is ready to turn the world upside down’”
But it doesn’t stop there. You’re also encouraged to write down the things that upset you.
Supposedly, this clears your mind. In reality, it feels more like documenting a soap opera:
• “Why am I found wanting with ‘I should have said this’ to last night’s argument with the little lady?”
• “Why is my email folder so full of un-replied mails, which don’t warrant a response any way?”
• “Why did I commit to this journaling nonsense in the first place?”
And then there’s meditation.
Not the “close your eyes and nap” variety, but the serious kind where you’re meant to breathe deeply, quiet your mind, hold your breath till you turn blue and all this while visualize a glowing orb of light surrounding you.
Or was it radiating from within you? I forget, but either way, you’re supposed to feel enlightened—or at least less annoyed about the guy responsible to filling your email box, with repeated reminders.
Meanwhile, exercise and diet remain the eternal resolution staples.
This is the year we will finally stick to eating clean; we all promise ourselves. January 1st begins triumphantly: celery juice, quinoa salads, and an enthusiastic jog in new running shoes.
By mid-January, the celery has been swapped for chocolate shake, the quinoa is growing fungus, and the shoes are neatly parked permanently in the cupboard, looking for the light of the day & pretty judgmental.
Now add to this mix of modern tech tools.
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The trusty leather journal has been replaced by the iPad and iPencil.
Your resolutions must now be color-coded, your gratitude lists must be in perfect handwriting on ‘Notes’, and your manifestation goals must feature pastel highlights.
And then there’s ‘ChatGPT’, now couple more like ‘Gemini’ & latest one by Meta & Amazon; that ever-willing assistant waiting to make you sound more enlightened than you really are.
Need help crafting your gratitude entries? Just type “Make me grateful” and voilà—out pops an eloquent list of blessings.
Yet somehow, even with these tools, we still fail.
Why? Because no app, no cosmic mantra, no digital notebook can change the fundamental truth: resolutions are aspirational at best, delusional at worst.
As for me, I’ve decided to skip the resolutions altogether.
If I had my way, I’d trade all the manifestations and gratitude lists for a ‘trusty time machine’.
Imagine rewinding to 2024—not to change anything, but to relive it all exactly as it was.
The highs, the lows, the belly laughs with friends, and yes, even the moments when I reminded myself of being a true blooded Punjabi & demolished aloo parathas dripping with butter, Rajma Chawal with loads of desi ghee or let myself go entirely with a feast of chole bhature from the old faithful Kwality, knowing full well the guilt that would follow.
I’d revisit March to remind myself not to fall for that diet fad (“Keto brownies are a lie!”), jump to June to re-watch the sunrise which I was too groggy to appreciate, and drop into November just to savor that extra bite of indulgence, guilt-free.
So, here’s my takeaway as we step into 2025: resolutions aren’t about attaining some impossible ideal of perfection;
they’re about reminding ourselves that life is a wonderfully chaotic mix of plans, surprises, successes, and spectacular failures.
Whether you stick to your meditation streak or abandon it by mid-February, whether your gratitude list glows with sincerity or feels like a perfunctory chore, the essence lies in participating in the delightful, absurd circus of self-improvement.
Instead of chasing an elusive “best version” of ourselves, maybe it’s time to embrace the perfectly imperfect journey that defines us.
Because in the end, life isn’t a checklist—it’s a celebration.
So here’s to another year of living, laughing, and occasionally failing, but always growing-Manifestations optional!
Cheers to 2025!
Note: This article is to make the year end a bit lighter, so here’s a bit of ‘Tongue in Cheek’ attempt