According to The Atlantic, they used to be different:

This year, most Americans will resolve forthwith to do some permutation of “getting fit” or “losing weight.”

But New Year’s resolutions predate our modern-day weight concerns by centuries.

So, what did people resolve before we had the scourge of cellulite and the temptation of McRib to stir us to action?

The answer: just to be a better person, apparently. Resolutions from the early 20th century ranged from swearing less, to having a more cheerful disposition, to recommitting to God.

I consider most of these to be better than the “lose weight” one. Of course, if I had a new years resolution, it would be… to lose some of the previously lost weight that has been creeping back on.

I’d also like to be more vigilant with Hit Coffee.

What, if any, new year resolutions did you make?


Category: Coffeehouse

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6 Responses to New Years Resolutions

  1. Mike Hunt Rice says:

    I’d also like to be more vigilant with Hit Coffee.

    Can you expand on that?

    • trumwill says:

      More posts. Specially, trying to get myself out of the mindset that every post should be something more than a quickie. See something interesting, have a thought about it, post on it. When I’ve been on that cycle, things have generally gone better.

      But as much as anything, I was thinking of my response times to comments.

      • Mike Hunt Rice says:

        I think it is obvious that this blog is going to be your quickie blog and the other blog is going to be your thoughtful blog. Not that there is anything wrong with that per se, but it is obvious that we are second class citizens.

        After all, you can’t get much of a dialogue going when the commentariat consists of you, Sheila, Peter, David Alexander, and myself.

        Personally, from what I saw a few months ago, you don’t need to lose any weight. Did you put some back on since then? Then again, I’m obviously not the best judge.

        As for NYR, I tend to make them for my birthday, since that is a new year for me. Yes, some people say I’m difficult, why do you ask?

        • trumwill says:

          My goal is to improve readership here. I’ve been trying to branch out and leave comments on various sites linking back to here. My time for any of it (including commenting on the other site) has been really constrained lately. This site is more important to me than OrdTimes (I know HC will exist two years from now, I don’t know whether I will still be a contributor to OT). I just haven’t been acting like it.

          With the Crosspost Everything Era ended, the basic MO is that just about everything gets posted here, while select things from here get posted there.

          I respond to a much higher rate of comments here than there, though I tend to be quicker responding over there due to the speed of the conversation.

          • Mike Hunt Rice says:

            I promise my comment wasn’t meant as a criticism. Hell, when you crosspost and I want to leave a comment, I tend to leave it there instead of here just so more people can read it.

            Although, I am curious about any weight gain since I saw you.

          • trumwill says:

            Sorry, I responded to the weight thing in a follow-up that got blocked by my crappy Internet connection. I haven’t gained weight since we met. I had gained some weight between my modern low and then, however.

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