I love New Years' resolutions and the process of reflecting on the year gone by and contemplating the year ahead. However, this year as I scrawled my resolutions in my new 2020 journal, it all seemed a bit trivial, shallow even.
This is because my country was on fire, literally.
As I watched Australia burn and read the news alerts on my phone recounting the lives lost, homes destroyed, and devastation wrought by the bushfires, I was filled with horror and dread. I also felt a sense of helplessness as to what I could do, beyond the immediate. The news wasn’t much better when I looked abroad and a tumultuous world facing political, environmental and social turmoil looked back at me.
As I contemplated the world around me my list of resolutions I felt a bit indulgent. It was a familiar list, filled with the same promises I make every year: learn French, read more books, exercise regularly, finally learn to meditate.
It seemed to me that, instead of making New Years' resolutions, redirecting my energies to how I as an individual could work to address the significant challenges we face locally and globally in this new decade – would be a better use of my time.
New Years' resolutions can also be a powerful tool for us to think about who we wish to be and how we want to inhabit the world.
And when you think of New Years' resolutions as yet another way in which we are made to feel like we are never good enough and need to be on a continuous quest for self-improvement, it doesn’t seem like the worst idea to give them a toss.
However, New Years' resolutions can also be a powerful tool for us to think about who we wish to be and how we want to inhabit the world. I decided instead of foregoing resolutions all together, I would recalibrate my resolutions and make them more meaningful.
Across Australia we can see the incredible power of community and everyday people rallying to support each other. We see how every act of bravery and kindness makes a difference – from our brave volunteer firefighters battling massive infernos, to a local woman saving a koala from a burning bush, to foodbanks being established in shopping centres, churches, mosques and organisations across Australia.
Self-care and self-improvement can form the seeds for personal change and reflection which can be channelled in our responses to the challenges of our times – to extend ourselves in kindness, empathy, assistance and protest.
Self-care and self-improvement can form the seeds for personal change and reflection which can be channelled in our responses to the challenges of our times.
The term self-care has come to be synonymous with overindulgent millennials and consumer culture but it has much more radical origins. It was popularised by American feminist and civil rights activist Audre Lorde for whom it was not an act of indulgence but rather ‘self-preservation’ which is an ‘act of political warfare’. Resolutions about self-care therefore are not trivial but can be powerful self-preservation tools, in particular for marginalised communities, in the face of hostile circumstances. There is no better example of this David and Goliath fight rural and regional communities face in coping with these unprecedented mega-blazes.
So, if you are thinking of throwing away your list of New Years' resolutions, stop right there, because even if you are not Malcolm X or Gandhi your resolutions could end up forming the basis for personal change which fuels political change.
The kind of political change that can help us shape and reimagine your country and the world in the decade ahead as we address the most urgent issues of our time – the urgent safety and health of our families, community and our planet.
This article is part of SBS Voices emerging Muslim women writers’ series. If you have a pitch, please contact sarah.malik@sbs.com.au.
