Most of you would have made a resolution on 1st January, isn’t it? Get a new job, go on that much-awaited vacation, spend more family time or oft-committed lose weight! And are you still at it? In my life, as in yours am sure, haven’t we all seen many who have forgotten or deviated from the resolution by now. And that is precisely what inspired me to pen my thoughts.

And I begin with a “why?” Why is it that a 1st January always manages to evoke that feeling of uncanny power in us to make us believe, albeit for the first few days, “yes we can!” Yes, this year I shall lose 15 kg. Yes, I shall give up smoking. Yes, I shall invest more time in myself. And the list goes on. Tired by the onslaught of bold declarations of unfulfilled wishes thus far and hence stoic committments on social media, there have been some such 1st January’s in my life when I have thought about making that one purposeful, albeit dull post…it would read something like “Guess what! This new year, I have not a single resolution, can you imagine!”

And then I stopped myself, knowing only too well the implications. A no brainer really. “Gargee, are you quite all right?” either expressed in comments with the sad emoticon or not expressed, yet thought.

I ask myself often why we make such date-specific resolutions. It could well be a hero-influence. Mind you, I have consciously refrained from using the term celebrities. For I firmly believe that be it fitness or diet, fashion or environment, food or lifestyle, any committment made by celebs isn’t ever complete in itself to propel us to do something similar. An example. Malaika Arora, more than once, had inspired a close friend to follow her fitness regime…well, a quarter of the famed-regimen was her target really! Could she run through it? No. Why? The rather-expected response was “Ah well, even if I try very hard, will I ever be half as fit as her!” Ah! And there went with a loud “whoosh” all the air from my inspiration. “True!” I agreed with a sigh.

So, who are these inspirational humans who manage to push us to that crucial threshold energy needed to start our engine to move ahead? To me, there are a few defined categories of men and women. A sportsman can inspire one to try the unthinkable; the sheer power and stamina build up the enormous willpower to follow the path of rigorous labour and probably some fame. A writer can influence some to try the new, the quirky, the innate subtle emotional angle or the rare humour. A musician can inspire one to learn a new instrument, try the fusion of East and West, piano and duduk and numerous other phenomena. A travel blogger has the innate capacity to ignite in us that passive desire to chase the crazy and tread the path less travelled. And so on. It is human motivation at large which makes us take that “leap of faith”. We relate to our heroes; reel or real life. We connect with them, we hold them in awe, in the highest regards. They are in us, in zeal and in passion. It is a possible dream for us to emulate them. They go beyond being just glamorous on-screen presence. Somewhere they make us believe in ourselves and ignite that most powerful of all mantras in us… “Yes we can!”.

So yes, I have my thinking cap on, all right. I see with my mind’s eyes open, the ones I deeply admire. And I ask myself, “So why not me?” Ok, no arrogance intended of course. Even in my wildest and most imaginative dream of self-glory, I can never imagine myself at a fraction of their level. But yes, if someone I deeply admire could chase her dream, do the new and gain a fair spot in her deeply loyal readers’ hearts, that too in her cruise beyond half a century, why not me! There! Have I just stated my resolution! Next, your turn 🙂