Posted: December 30, 2020
“This year, I want to travel to…”
Okay, stop right there.
Contrary to popular belief, New Year’s resolutions are ineffective. In fact, they may even be harmful to your travel goals.
Although you have good intentions, resolutions made at the start of a new year have a low success rate. According to HowStuffWorks, four in five people break them as early as February. Of all resolutions made, less than a tenth of them make it to fruition (Psychology Today). Their very nature acts as a deterrence against fulfilling your travel goals. They only create temporary, artificial excitement.
Don’t believe me? Here are five reasons why making travel a New Year’s Resolution is a bad idea:
Catchy travel package pitches
I haven’t heard much from other travelers about setting “New Year’s resolutions.” It seems most narratives about them come from businesses looking to make a quick buck. I receive emails from travel companies raving about New Year’s resolutions, initiating excitement in their recipients. Because they are out to make money, they conveniently tag a sales pitch for a travel or resort package. They reinforce the false narrative that travel is fancy, expensive, and exclusive.
Travel goals do not have to entail pricy packages. You could take a budget trip abroad by staying in hostels and taking public transportation. Or you could take a trip within your own city, state, or country.
Do not associate your travel goals with catchy sales pitches during the New Year. Instead, be honest with yourself. Fuel your travel goals with true intention and purpose. Who’s the traveler you want to become?
Procrastination
It doesn’t make sense to postpone your travel goals for January. If anything, New Year’s resolutions are polished excuses for procrastination.
We normally underestimate how rapidly a year passes by and how much time is available to us. Before we know it, the year’s over and you haven’t saved money, planned your trip, or gone anywhere. So you think, Well, I will save my travel resolution for next year! It’s a perpetual cycle under the illusion of new year, new you, new travels.
So, why not set your travel goals any month of the year instead of wait until next year to come around when you might have lost your original motivation? It’s best to begin while you’re in the mood, anyway.
You are always changing
Your heightened enthusiasm during New Year’s may not match your purpose and commitment towards those so-called “resolutions.” In fact, you may be swayed into making unrealistic ones that sound so good in that moment only to forget them, realize you didn’t have true motivation, or they were simply unattainable. Good luck trying to maintain that kind of resolution throughout the year!
It is easy to fall under the illusion of “new year, new you.” After all, the prospect of making it to another year is exciting. The year on the current date has changed, and now you experience new vitality about the way you look at where you are in life.
Simply put, new year does not equal new you.
Remember that personal renewal and change is an all-year-long process. We are growing every single minute and day. It’s not like the new year comes and BOOM, we are a new person. We are always a different person today than yesterday.
Change and growth is bountiful, occurring even when we don’t notice.
Does our body and mind stop growing until the New Year? Nope.
Do your role models stop learning and honing skills until the New Year? I doubt it.
You can act on your travel goals anytime you feel like your life necessitates them!
Life is impermanent
You only have so much time left to live your life. Don’t limit your goals to the amount of New Year’s available to you.
Like I said previously, most of us think we have more time on our hands than we really do. That’s because we don’t think about our death every day. As melancholy as that may be, it is a source of wisdom that helps us decide what we should do right here, right now. After all, we cannot foresee when, how, and where our life will end, so we are compelled to make the most of our time.
Imagine you’re lying in your deathbed, knowing your life is ending soon. Reflect on your life. Are you really going to be thinking about New Year’s resolutions? Nah, you’ll likely be going deeper than that. Either you’re satisfied with your travels or you regret not following through with them.
Life is uncertain
If you have a chance and motivation to travel, plan and go as soon as possible instead of waiting until January. You never know what is going to happen down the line that may sap you of your chance or motivation.
Most of us will relate with the year 2020, the volatile year void of major travel plans.
Nobody saw it coming — a global-scale pandemic caused by a virus called COVID-19/coronavirus. The beginning of the year was met with restrictions to prevent the spread.
I’ve heard people say things like, “2020 is going to be my awesome year! I’ll travel to Ireland!” When it didn’t come to fruition due to COVID-19, it must have disappointed them. Hopefully, their motivation wouldn’t dwindle by the time the pandemic settles down.
If you think you should travel, don’t depend on New Year’s resolutions because they don’t take into account unforeseen circumstances.
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Do you want your life to have enriching travel experiences? You want to go to Bali so bad? What about Torres del Paine? Or Canada’s Rocky Mountains?
Don’t tie them with New Year’s resolutions. They will only give you permission to delay them for another year. If you keep up this trend, you’ll be waiting for the rest of your life to travel.
What’s more, the illusionary excitement of resolutions tend to inflate travel goals. Instead, simply set suitable and desirable goals, not necessarily huge ones. It is okay if you want to backpack all over South America. But it is also okay if you want to visit new places nearby your house.
Make every day your day. You are alive here and now. Plan your trip, large or small, and then go.
If you stop relying on New Year’s resolutions, you’ve already taken the first step.
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