Quitter’s Friday
January 19, 2019
Not knowing the second Friday of January is known as “Quitter’s Friday”, I stopped in at a local chocolatier’s store only to find the shelves of candy somewhat depleted. I remarked to the owner, it must be a good sign the shelves are somewhat empty as he must have been selling up a storm. However, while he wished high sales were true, the sparse counters were actually an indication that customers were sticking to their New Year’s Resolutions. The aftermath of holiday binging, or excess, leads many people to resolve to lay off the chocolate in the New Year. Known as “holiday remorse”—a guilt ridden response to holiday excess—many people over-indulge during the holidays and then vow to lose weight and get in shape in the New Year.
However, the chocolatier was not concerned because he felt business would “pick up any day now” and, if not in January, definitely by the second week of February, just in time for Valentine’s Day! By then, most people will trade their New Year’s Resolution for a big box of chocolate!
So I did a little research after my visit and discovered the Friday on which I happened to wander into the chocolate shop was known as “Quitter’s Friday”, and according to Statistics Brain Research Institute, 32% of people will abandon their resolutions by the second Friday in January. Even though I stopped in at the sweet maker’s chocolate shop on that second Friday, I could not be counted in that quitter percentage because I did not swear off chocolate for the New Year or any year for that matter.
When I poked a little further in my research, I discovered 80% of New Year’s resolutions will fail by the second week of February (US News)! So by Valentine’s Day, the next big holiday for all things chocolate, holiday remorse is replaced with a new remorse—disappointment in not being able to keep resolutions.
Interestingly, the top resolutions for 2019 were: to lose weight, save money, travel more, find a new job or hobby, and make new friends. Why is it that such good intentions–getting fit, losing weight, improving our life style–seems so elusive? Psychologists suggest many reasons: goals are too vague or too ambitious, no plan exists as to how to accomplish these goals, or the goals were not something the person truly wanted.
So how can anyone be successful in keeping to their resolutions? Some suggest exchanging the physical types of resolutions for something more spiritual like reading the bible every day, praying daily, attending a bible study, and going to church faithfully each week. However, even the spiritual goals, while not bad ideas, are not sustainable because there is no power in a New Year’s resolution. Psychologists suggest resolving to start or stop doing a certain activity, has no value unless a proper internal motivation exists. For example, why read the Bible every day? Is it to honor God and grow spiritually or is because it’s been said it’s a good thing to do?
In years past, when I did make New Year’s Resolutions, I realized they were mostly a “wish-list” of things I wanted to change about my life, and often they were very self-centered. I gave little thought about whether what I was resolving was God’s will or not. Now I call to mind Proverbs 16: 3 which reads:
“Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.”
The verb, commit, in Hebrew, literally means “to roll.” The idea of rolling is to completely give something over to God in total dependence upon Him. When we completely depend upon God in our work (in our resolutions), God will establish our plans or– “bring about” or “cause to happen”. When our plans align with God’s will, then success will follow and we do not have to worry about “holiday remorse” or “quitter’s Friday” or exchanging our New Year’s Resolutions for a box of chocolate a few weeks from now!
Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him, and he will act.
Psalm 37: 5