Every year 45 percent of Americans make New Year’s resolutions and not even half of us mange to stick to them for longer than six months, according to the Journal of Clinical psychology. Apparently, according to their data, people in their twenties are 25 percent more likely to keep their resolutions than people over 50. Now this seems counter intuitive (think wisdom and patience that supposedly come with age), not to mention depressing. Unless you factor in everyone’s favorite resolution – losing weight, in which case it makes perfect sense. But it’s still a bummer. On the up side, people, possibly using expletives, who make explicit resolutions i.e. signed in blood or proclaimed in front of judgmental witnesses, are 10 times more likely to reach their goals than those of us who mumble something about eating more vegetables while refilling the champagne glasses, and don’t want to talk about it the morning. Who knew?
Most of the commonly broken resolutions have to do with health, diet and fitness; money; or relationships. So then what’s left to make a resolution about and be successful at it? I resolve to stop painting my toenails? There are plenty of hypothesizes and psychological pundits out there to explain why we frail mortal creatures are so wish-washy. But if you ask me, it’s because most bad habits are enjoyable, even fun. If you don’t like the taste of cigarettes you probably won’t take to it. Let’s face it, eating chocolate covered strawberries with a lovely Pinot Noir and sleeping in has its appeal, especially when you swore, in a mumble, and didn’t really want to do it in the first place, to live on kale leaves for the next three months and do 100 push-ups every day.
But wait, there really is some good news in this article. Numerous studies say that volunteering is great for your physical health and mental wellbeing. And it’s free. When you volunteer with an organization you don’t have to order expensive self-help books that sit on the bed side table collecting dust or sign up at an expensive athletic club, the only thing it will cost you is time. Actually, according to the Harvard Business Review, “those who volunteer their time feel like they have more of it. This is similar to other research showing that people who donate to charity feel wealthier.” When you volunteer you are making new connections, learning new skills and building your resume, so that money goal might just happen. An article in Forbes says, “Research demonstrates that volunteering leads to better health… those who volunteer have lower mortality rates, greater functional ability, and lower rates of depression later in life than those who do not volunteer.” That means that those health resolutions may be more attainable. Lastly, the London School of Economics tells us that volunteering equals love. They examined the relationship between volunteering and measures of happiness and found, “the more people volunteered, the happier they were. Volunteering builds empathy, strengthens social bonds and makes you smile - all factors that increase the feeling of love.” So look, it’s as clear as day, volunteering improves relationships because everyone can’t help but love you.
The moral to this story is that if this year you resolve to give of your time and your knowledge to your community, you just might reap a whole lot of other benefits for yourself too. And then, since you’ve been such an exemplary human you can in good conscience, eat bonbons, paint your toenails and sleep as late as you want.
To volunteer on one of the city’s boards or committees call 872-0500.
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