French New Years Resolutions

Making New Years resolutions is something I grew up around. But I hadn’t really thought, until now – Do the French make New Years Resolutions?

And the answer is ‘mais oui’, yes they do. But they don’t call them ‘resolutions’. Rather they have ‘good intentions’. Bonnes intentions pour la nouvelle année.

Now I for one love the concept of intentions over resolutions. The former offers up more flexibility, less time constraint and all around starts the new year with a more mindful less stress perception, to my mind.

In reading up on the topic, these intentions vary quite significantly from the ‘will lose weight’, ‘get healthy’, ‘exercise more’ typical resolutions that resound in the new year. Interestingly you can easily tell which posts, vlogs, etc were written by non-French, or at least for a non-French audience, as the phrases being offered up about New Year’s resolutions includes most of these. (Just do a quick google of New Year’s Resolutions and you will see what I mean.)

There are actually very few posts on French resolutions (at least in English, but also very few – count them on one hand -in French) to be found on the internet. This is because French good intentions are much more personal. They may be centred around completing a project, like grow more vegetables. Or mindfulness, such as spend more time with my elderly neighbour this year.

Interestingly, in searching New Years Resolutions and France the most typical ‘resolution’ that shows up is to learn more French. That sort of makes sense that it would be so popular. If you are living in France or intend to visit, learning French is very important. So if one must undertake a resolution, this is quite a good one. (Far healthier for the mind, at least, than worrying about calories.)

And yet weirdly, (English) blogs/vlogs that offer up French learning on New Years resolutions trended towards translations about weight and diets. So very not French!

In example, and should you still be so inclined, I particularly thought this collection of vocab quite ironic:

Français	English
Cette année je vais …	This year I’m going to …

Perdre du poids	Lose weight
Faire plus du sport	Do more sports
Passer plus du temp à la gymnase	Spend more time at the gym

So I am definitely adopting the French concept of intentions over resolutions. And like the French, I am keeping them personal. They aren’t tick box, done that concepts, but rather mindful in their nature. And that works well for me.