DUANE SHERRILLEditor

How many of us will celebrate Quitters Day on Jan. 10? Well, maybe celebrate is not the best term to describe failing to accomplish what we so ardently pledged to do at the stroke of midnight Jan. 1. I mean we were full of hope and vigor when we made those declarations – some even being made before having too many glasses of champagne. You know, New Year, new me?

Quitters Day is a real thing. That is the day that most resolutions are broken, experts say, where wide-eyed dreamers who were full of hope and resolve on Dec. 31, decide to go back to their old way of life for the rest of the year before making the same hollow declarations again. Surveys show the most common resolutions made are, in this order, save more money (um, I don’t even try to do that one); eat healthier (that I do already); exercise more (ditto); lose weight (I’m skinny already); and quit smoking (don’t inhale as Bill Clinton once famously said, allegedly).

Frankly, I’ve found that resolutions aren’t worth the brain power it makes to even think them. In all the years I’ve wasted my time making a resolution, only one has stuck and it was more of a coincidence in timing rather than a tried and true resolution. That “resolution” was made on Dec. 31, 1999 – yes, the same day my Cat in the Hat-hat was snatched in front of thousands of witnesses (refer to last week’s column if you’re scratching your head on that one). That was the day that me and two of my coworkers went to a dank, dirty hole-in-the-wall gym and vowed to continue working out regularly from that day forward. Two of us have honored that oath for a quarter-century while the other didn’t even make it to Quitters Day that year.

I think there may be something to making it past Quitters Day that is if you give much credence to resolutions – which I don’t. See, it takes a while for there to be a noticeable difference in the person. Take for instance, saving money. If you save a few dollars a week, it takes time to show in your savings account. The same goes with working out. It takes a while for folks to notice a difference in your appearance. For me, it took about six months before folks started commenting about how big my arms had gotten. Well, for an egomaniac like me, that was all the food my ego needed to be fed as I continue hitting the purple gym four or five times a week.

Now, I know that when I step foot in the gym next, it’ll be bursting at the seams with hopeful resolution people, all planning to make that “new me” during 2025. However, I know from seeing this repeat itself for many years that by Quitters Day I won’t see most of these people again until next January. Why? From what I hear, it’s the soreness they feel after trying to make up from years of bodily neglect in just a week. It don’t work that way. Anything worth doing requires an investment. Whether that be battling through the pain, throwing away that pack of Camels or cutting down on fast food – it requires dedication.

For instance, I was a big dipper for many years, so much that I was one of those guys who had a round Skoal impression permanently imprinted on my back pocket. And, like so many others, each New Year I was going to quit the habit. And, like clockwork, I’d throw that can away and swear it off. However, by sun-up I was rooting through the trash, trying to recover the can.

How did I quit some 20 years ago? Yellow teeth. It wasn’t my ability to keep a resolution – which I cannot – but it was my ego of not wanting yellow teeth. I got mad, good and mad at myself and I went cold turkey. Frankly, getting mad at your bad habits is much better than making a resolution. I really think most of us make New Year resolutions just to put off making good changes as long as we can. If it really is that important than why wait a whole year to make a change. Get mad now. You don’t like what you see in the mirror, get mad and take it out in the gym. You broke? Then get mad and stop sending Temu all your money. You feel sluggish? Then get mad and put down that Whopper and eat an apple.

Bottom line is that even I am incapable of keeping a New Year resolution. However, I’m real good at getting mad. Let your anger be your guide in 2025. If it makes you mad, there’s likely a good reason for it.