accidental resolutions

The last time I made new year's resolutions was probably my freshman year in high school. After many failures, I realized how silly it was to make goals for the upcoming year if they were going to be brutally broken anyway. The celebration and recognition remind me very much of Thanksgiving and Valentine's Day. Personally I'm not a big fan of reserving just one single day of the year to express gratitude and follow traditional rituals for the sake of the holiday on the calendar. Why not be thankful everyday? Why not send a simple greeting of love to our partners just because? Why not make goals for yourself NOW and actually adhere to the plan?
I stopped making resolutions with the advent of a new year, knowing that I would most likely slip up at some point. Instead of making drastic goals doomed for failure, I've resorted to making gradual modifications everyday I get out of bed. It's very common to hear people talk about this and that they want to change this year, but even this is just all apart of the ritual of celebrating a new year. I'm not suggesting that it's bad to desire improvements in our lives, but it seems like the weight of resolutions has become much more about the idea of making goals as opposed to actually following through with them.
With that said, I must confess that I've also made a list of things I hope to achieve this year. But it was only by coincidence! The last few months of 2009 were tumultuous and chaotic for me. I can admit that I've been a complete mess. The onset of break from school helped me realize the necessary changes I needed to make in order to survive this hoopla. During the past few weeks I have recollected my thoughts into coherent images in my mind. It just so happened that the time of my returning sanity and a new year were to make an unplanned collision. So the changes I wanted AND NEEDED to make became my new year's resolutions by perfect chance. It's way too soon to say whether or not I'll maintain my current line of thought and action. Let's just hope I'm not making a mistake by calling them resolutions.