AN­GE­LO JE­DIDI­AH

an­ge­lo.je­didi­ah@guardian.co.tt

As 2022 ends, many turn their fo­cus to su­per­sti­tions and set­ting res­o­lu­tions to ring in the new year.

In Trinidad and To­ba­go, it is com­mon­ly be­lieved that black eyed-peas, whether in a de­li­cious pelau or cooked with some tasty pig­tail, will bring pros­per­i­ty and good luck.

While some may not be too keen on giv­ing in to su­per­sti­tions, they will­ing­ly out­line their goals and dreams for the new year.

Stud­ies show that an av­er­age of 62 per cent of the world’s pop­u­la­tion sets res­o­lu­tions every year, with less than one-third ful­fill­ing them.

Ac­cord­ing to lo­cal life coach and mo­ti­va­tion­al speak­er of Best Fit Con­sul­tan­cy, Bren­don Best, New Year’s Eve tra­di­tions make peo­ple hope­ful as they ush­er in an­oth­er new sea­son of their life.

“Per­sons sort of em­brace these rit­u­als, these tra­di­tions, these things be­cause they think that it’s go­ing to set them up for suc­cess for their new sea­son. There are things that would help bring them in­to, or help gives them that good foot­ing,” Best said.

In the past week, so­cial me­dia has been flood­ed with users shar­ing their New Year’s Eve tra­di­tions. One so­cial me­dia user shared that their par­ents count and eat 12 grapes as the clock strikes mid­night to bring them good luck. An­oth­er claimed that stay­ing safe­ly at home with the peo­ple you love on Old Year’s night fore­shad­ows pro­tec­tion and love for the fu­ture.

But ac­cord­ing to Best, many peo­ple do not be­lieve in su­per­sti­tions or res­o­lu­tions out of fear of dis­ap­point­ment.

“You know, they say, ‘I’m go­ing to quit smok­ing this year.’ And then, you know, they con­tin­ue hav­ing a group of friends who are smok­ers, right? And so the res­o­lu­tion is al­most self-sab­o­tag­ing,” Be­hest said.

Best, how­ev­er, en­cour­ages cit­i­zens, no mat­ter their be­liefs and prac­tices, to take ini­tia­tive and con­trol over their lives and ac­tions to ac­com­plish their goals and dreams.

“You’ve got to say, ‘Lis­ten, what do I need to get go­ing? And what do I need to do? Who needs to come with me to help us get there?’ I think those are more of the con­ver­sa­tions we need to have.”