Anthony Ongaro

At the beginning of each new year most of us make resolutions that we believe will improve our lives and lead us to become better human beings. It’s a fresh start, a brand new year with infinite possibilities. It’s finally our chance to step up to the plate and get things done without the baggage of the previous 364 days weighing us down. The problem is, out of the ~60% of Americans that usually make new year’s resolutions, only 8% are successful in achieving them. This is a pretty depressing statistic, but here’s the flip side: People who explicitly make resolutions are 10 times more likely to attain their goals than people who don’t.

It’s can be really difficult to have gratitude for something you didn’t know you actually had. In the digital age, our time and attention can be very limited, bouncing back and forth constantly.  It is not often that we get a moment to pause and think about not only what is going on with us, but what isn’t. “Hmm, what would it be like if I didn’t have ______ right now.” For me, the most recent example of this is a relatively crippling headache. In my 29 years, I’ve never had frequent headaches and definitely never one lasting more than a few hours. This week, I’ve had a headache for six straight days.