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Gloria Saltzman: How to Make a New Year's Resolution

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Gloria Saltzman shares how she will make her New Year’s resolutions.

Imagine the pressure. January 1 is arriving very soon and with it comes the question, “What New Year’s resolutions are you making?”

As an observant Jew, not only do I have a New Year’s celebration on December 31, but also on the Jewish new year of Rosh Hashanah, which is based on the lunar calendar. This means that in September, I, along with Jewish people all over the globe, will ask myself to confront the parts of myself that I know are less than perfect and attempt to fix these flaws.

As an American, I go through the same ritual of deciding what parts of myself to keep and what to erase come January as people across the world celebrate another chance for a renewed self.

Many people avoid this task by admitting that they do not make New Year’s resolutions. I doubt that all of those people don’t make attempts to be better human beings. In my opinion, what’s important to realize is that the art of improving oneself is not a process that has a beginning and an end. Rather, it’s a lifelong pursuit that’s composed of an accumulation of experiences and knowledge one reaps with age.

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Now, as I find myself in a later stage in life, I know myself better. I know where I am comfortable and where I am not. My negative patterns in relationships are more predictable and sometimes I can take a detour and avoid them. At other times though, I can’t seem to take a different route.

Yet, with age comes more self-compassion and self-forgiveness, so that even if I don’t reach my goals of fine tuning myself, I can always take a deep breath and try again.

My offer to you dear listener is to find what you love in your life and whatever that is, do more of it. Happy New Year! With a Perspective, I’m Gloria Saltzman.

Gloria Saltzman is a psychotherapist who lives with her husband in San Francisco. She practices piano and writes as much as she can. She enjoys spending time with her friends and family and is delighted by her two grandchildren.

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