Opinion Today: It’s time to rethink New Year’s resolutions

What if, instead of improving ourselves, we resolved to improve the world?

View in browser|nytimes.com Continue reading the main story January 2, 2024 By Cornelia Channing Editorial Assistant, Sunday Opinion Now that a new year has begun, all our bad habits, self-defeating tendencies and unattractive personality traits will burn off like morning fog. And, just as suddenly, our goals will become conquerable. We will finally finish the novel gathering dust in our desk drawer. We will exercise more, spend less money, learn French. In a recent guest essay, the writer Roger Rosenblatt reflects on this annual ritual of New Year's resolutions and laments its foolish vanity. "What does the great wide world care," he asks, "if you lose weight, or work out, or work harder, or quit drinking or smoking?" Rosenblatt argues that such small-minded and self-interested goals lead inevitably to disappointment anyway. But rather than suggesting we give up resolutions entirely, he proposes that we replace them with something more generous. "What if, instead of planning our exercise regimens," Rosenblatt writes, "we focused our intentions on all that is undesirable in human activity — wars, bigotry, brutality, the despoiling of the earth — and sought to address it? What if, instead of making a milquetoast resolution, we made airtight commitments?" Improving the world may seem like a tall order, but Rosenblatt assures us that it's possible, and he offers examples of small steps we can all take: "Stage a protest. Send a letter to right a wrong, or to proffer friendship. (A thoughtful, sympathetic letter to a friend in sorrow or distress is a powerful thing.) Lend a hand. Offer a word of comfort or inspiration or support or love. Donate money or, most valuable of all, time." Rosenblatt's own resolutions include visiting a children's hospital to tell stories to sick kids and regularly calling the lonely people he knows "just to chat and make them feel part of the living world." The essay is a lovely provocation — a reminder to look beyond our personal ambitions and aim for something higher. "The great beautiful irony of all this," he writes "is that selflessness is not the opposite of self-improvement. Selflessness is self-improvement — the most meaningful and lasting kind." Read the essay: Pavel Popov Guest Essay This Year, Make a Resolution About Something Bigger Than Yourself What if, instead of focusing on improving ourselves, we focused on improving the world? By Roger Rosenblatt Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT Here's what we're focusing on today: Editors' Picks Frank Bruni Trump's Final Battle Has Begun The 2024 presidential election represents a definitive test for America. By Frank Bruni More From Opinion Guest Essay How the Federal Government Can Rein In A.I. in Law Enforcement Agencies should be required to provide verifiable evidence that the tools they use will not cause harm. 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