Every new thing brings with it a newer excitement, so does a year. New Year fascinates us all with the newness of beginning something good. No wonder, many of us set some goals and make resolutions. But as the saying goes, New Year’s resolutions are great but they are essentially made to be broken. A study suggests that only eight per cent people actually live up to the commitments they make ahead of the New Year as the resolutions dissolve as quickly as they are made.
However, Sunday POST caught up with a few committed individuals from various areas of work who have managed to complete the resolution.
‘Took the resolution when I was 3’
Ananya Sristi Satpathy needs no introduction. A few weeks back she narrated how she worked hard to be among the first three positions in the list of successful candidates who cracked Orissa Public Service Commission.
Ananya took the resolution to become a civil servant a bit earlier when she was all but three years of age.
“I was three years old when I was mesmerised seeing Anu Garg ma’am (erstwhile collector of Bargarh district). That was the day I decided to be a civil servant. I didn’t even know what actually the work entailed but as I grew up I witnessed first-hand the travails of my single mother in her tryst in getting her share of justice in the world. I had realised how pivotal is the role of civil servants in not only redressing the sundry grievances of a common man but also in making their mundane lives better. As a student of Development Studies I also had an opportunity to learn about the functioning and the challenges of the society and watch civil servants working tirelessly towards building a better world for us to live in reaffirming my decision each passing day,” says Ananya.
She continues: “It isn’t an exaggeration when I say there was never a single day when I wavered from wanting to be anything other than a civil servant. I am extremely grateful to the almighty for giving me the opportunity to be and do what I wanted to be and do. There were challenges of-course; the lure of working for a reputed MNC or pursuing studies abroad instead of embarking on a nerve wrecking journey of appearing for civil services. But that was nothing as compared to the satisfaction that I felt I would achieve by directly being able to impact people’s lives. The fear of failure also stood no chance in front of the joy I believed I would get by working in the sphere of governance, policy planning and implementation.”
Ananya says her mother’s life gave me the certainty, not of the results or success but of the fact that noble intentions, determination and hard work have the power to herald positivity not only in one’s own life but also be transformational for the community and the society as well.
Her rise from being a single mother and a domestic abuse survivor to being the first woman in the district to crack the judicial services was the testimony of the indomitable courage and potential, she further adds.
Talking about her resolutions she quips, “I was critical in the ICU. Having barely escaped death from close quarters just before writing the exam, my resolution was to be watchful of my physical and mental health. The sheer unpredictability of the exam tends to take a toll on the mental health for any civil service aspirant and I thus had resolved not to give in to fears but to embrace and spread positivity in life.”
Staying fervent and optimistic despite failures and losses is easier said than done. But I had decided to take one day at a time and face my fears head on. Writing a journal consistently, sending positive affirmations to self and meditation helped me achieve my goals and stay calm in troubled times,” concludes Ananya who was in third position in OPSC examination.
‘Love to upgrade goals time to time’
Odisha’s Satyapira Pradhan claimed to have registered his name in Guinness World Records for delivering the most number of punches with one hand in one minute breaking the previously held record by Pakistan’s Muhammad Rashid.
Satyapira, a physiotherapy student, punched 393 times with one hand in a minute surpassing 377 full punches struck by Pakistani martial arts student. The Odisha boy is now waiting for confirmation from Guinness World Records.
Not only in punching, Satyapira is also a successful mountaineer.
Talking about his unsatiated goals, Pradhan said that he never settles for just one goal. “I am fully workaholic; my passion and profession both are filled with enthusiasm for adventure sports and about setting new benchmarks. I love to upgrade goals from time to time”.
A continued and unbreakable amount of discipline is required to be both mentally and physically fit for any kind of sport. On mind level, mountaineers require unwavering focus, determinations and the ability to overcome failure.
Talking about his future aspirations, Satyapira said, “I want to start a sports academy. Nowadays I am guiding boys and girls across the country to register their names in Guinness World Records in their respective skills. My 13 students already enlisted their name in the Guinness World Records. Our club Kalinga Daredevils is also bringing talents to limelight and helping them to achieve.”
A major goal achieved, few more to follow
Atri Prasad Rout, a student of Utkal University says, “In March 2021, I lost my grandfather, and then a month later, my grandma. Because it was Covid that caused their deaths I couldn’t help but think of the pre-existing illnesses that aided the process. Then the life I was living wasn’t a healthy one, my Body Mass Index was all messed up, I was almost 20kgs overweight in comparison to my height.”
The 22-year-old continues: “So I made a resolution to lose weight. It started with dieting, with all kinds of oily foods, fast foods, snacks, and fizzy drinks off my plates. The temptation of these foods is hard to avoid, but you kind of have to make the alternative choice each and every time. So in the morning and evening, instead of snacks I chose to take sprouts and fruits rich in fibres. But that wasn’t enough, because fat accumulates in parts of the body that you can only get rid of through metabolism. So I started working out, going for a run at least three times a week, on alternate weekdays. For me waking up early was hard, so I made up a new rule, that I would run whenever it suits me, just with an empty stomach and water bottle in my hand.”
“For me, that has been kind of the thing about resolutions. We all have some habits and patterns of behaviour that we repeat. There are some choices we make every day, unconsciously, day after day, for years. It could be a choice about food, clothes, expression, anything. When you are making a resolution, you’re kind of saying to yourself that this is a choice I’m making passively everyday but from today onwards I’m going to be active and choose something different. And then you commit to it. After a certain period of time, hopefully, it will become a new habit,” he quips.
Asked about 2023, he reveals, “I’ve three resolutions in mind. First, I’m planning to watch 250 foreign films and write about each of them. Project 250, I’ve named it and the writing will be available online. The second resolution is related to health. I’m very inconsistent in my food habits. So the agenda is to eat two meals a day, lunch and dinner, on time, everyday. And the third one is related to family. The cousins I used to know as kids have all grown up now and I feel that there is a distance between us. So the goal is to know them better, understand the issues they are going through. Let’s see how that goes.”