A personal trainer once told me the obvious: Most people who make New Year’s resolutions to lose weight and get fit keep those resolutions for awhile and then drop them like a hot rock. Each January, people at my gym crowd the weight machine area and wait their turn for the treadmill. By February, the crowd has thinned out. By March, there’s no waiting at all.

And then the months pass and the gym members go back to watching Netflix in their sweatpants and snacking on chips. Confession: I’ve done this myself.

Resolutions are made to be broken, but they give us a goal. Once a year, we try to do better and be better. And it works, at least for a time.