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Lady Justice: New Year's Hibernation

Improve your habits in the New Year if you can
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By now, most Canadians with a New Year’s resolution will have already given it up or be close to doing so. Plan to lose weight? That may turn out to just be an excuse to overeat over the holidays, being nice to your current holiday self and punishing your future self, instead gaining those few pounds that add up over the years. Joining the gym? Existing complications of having warm enough clothes and sufficient visibility to drive there during a polar vortex; overcoming your seasonal norovirus, flu or common cold; and, enduring the shortest days of the year are not a recipe for success.
One regular gym attendee notes that she takes time off the first two to three weeks of January as the gym is overcrowded with newbies. My personal trainer states that the crowd disperses within a week or two with hardly anyone left at the end of January. 
The National Geographic indicates this practice of making resolutions (or pledges) started with the Ancient Babylonians over 4,000 years ago. They would pledge to exercise, spend less or be nicer (maybe Canadians already have the latter in the bag, I have never heard of that resolution here). Their civilization was located in modern day Iraq (then Mesopotamia) which my weather app shows is currently enjoying a balmy 21 degrees. 
But we live in Canada, where our Januarys are not so blissful. Here, something as simple as daylight savings time is thought to disrupt our lives so much that we may have to pass laws to get rid of it. There is evidence it increases physical and mental health risks like heart attacks, stroke and depression. As one that has never noticed the time change (the plusses of not being a routine sleeper), I wonder if more effort should be spent on analyzing the impact of New Year’s resolutions, usually aimed at changing every hour of your life.
Should we aim to change our habits to improve ourselves? Definitely. Should we do it in January? Almost definitely not. It is too darn cold and success is getting out of bed and recovering from the holidays. Dry January, where those who overdrank and don’t want another hangover seems reasonable, but planning for other drastic changes is setting yourself up for likely failure and the attendant guilt. An overall negative as compared with the few who succeed. Therefore, be it resolved that resolutions be scheduled for spring, or summer.

For students, maybe right at the end of the school year. For workers, perhaps April 1, no fooling (for accountants and the CRA, that might need to be May 1, given tax season). Instead of April fool’s jokes, let’s get serious with April resolutions.
As for January, I propose we have our New Year’s hibernation, going easy on ourselves, and setting ourselves up for success. We take the time to regroup from our past year and we catch up on Netflix, crossword puzzles and book reading. We focus on surviving and remind ourselves it will get better. Then we pick up momentum as the days get longer, priming ourselves for those resolutions to take effect. All of you resolution makers who think you have now failed for another year, consider January your practice run. See you at the gym on April 1! 
Donna Purcell, KC, (aka Lady Justice) is an Alberta lawyer and Chief Innovation Officer with Donna Purcell QC Law. If you have legal questions, contact dpurcell@dpqclaw.com.