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What Is Ditch New Year’s Resolutions Day & Why Should We Celebrate It

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Today is Ditch New Year’s Resolutions Day! It’s the perfect time to reevaluate your New Year’s resolutions or, better yet, get rid of them!

How many times have you made New Year’s resolutions just to find that when the New Year rolls around, none of them are complete?

If you want to change that habit, keep reading to learn about Ditch Your New Year’s Resolutions Day and why celebrating the day will set you up for success!

A woman in yellow holding yellow balloons near a text overlay that reads "Ditch New Year's Resolutions Day, what it is and why we should celebrate it".

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What is Ditch New Year’s Resolutions Day?

Ditch New Year’s Resolution Day is a special day that falls roughly half way though the month of January. Each year this day is celebrated annually on January 17. 

Blocks that read "Time To Say Goodbye" on a counter to celebrate Ditch New Year's Resolutions Day".

The purpose of this day is to let go of the New Year’s resolutions you made at the start of the year.

Now, you may be reading that and wondering why it’s a day we should celebrate. Hear me out, this isn’t actually a bad thing!

Why should we celebrate Ditch New Year’s Resolution Day?

At the beginning of the year it’s easy to get carried away and try tackle more than is humanly possible.

Sand running through a woman's hand in a meadow to celebrate letting go.

There’s a feeling of magic on New Year’s Eve, an illusion of limitlessness! Once January 17 rolls around, some of the resolutions you made can begin to seem impossible or even undesirable.

Ditch New Year’s Resolutions Day is a wonderful opportunity to get rid of the resolutions you no longer wish to keep. 

Letting go of the unrealistic goals you made early on, gives more time to the other things on your list. Sometimes getting rid of a few tasks allows the others to flourish!

History of Ditch New Year’s Resolution Day

The origin of Ditch New Year’s Resolutions Day is unknown.

A man's hand letting go of paper planes symbolizing goals, wishes and resolutions from the window of a building in the city.

While we aren’t sure how the day originated, it’s pretty clear that humans have been celebrating it, unofficially, since New Year’s Resolutions were first invented.

After all, no one is perfect. It would be impossible to keep every resolution ever made. The day makes perfect sense! It allows us to let go of resolutions that don’t serve us.

How to observe Ditch New Year’s Resolutions Day

There are lots of obvious ways to celebrate Ditch New Year’s Resolutions Day. Here are a few other creative ideas to help honor this day.

The words "let it go..." carved in the sand at the beach waiting for a wave to wash them away.

  • Get rid of those New Year’s Resolutions! And please, do so without guilt. 
  • If you’re not ready to ditch your New Year’s resolutions completely, honor the spirit of the day by revisiting your list and revising the resolutions that don’t quite work for you!
  • Write your New Year’s wishes in the sand, and let the beach wash them away.
  • If you’re of drinking age, pop open a bottle of Champagne or Prosecco and have a glass! After all, it’s customary to drink sparkling wine on New Year’s Eve, why not on Ditch New Year’s Resolutions Day too!
  • Solve the word search puzzle for January to see if you can find Ditch New Years Resolutions Day in it.
  • Use the hashtag #DitchNewYearsResolutionsDay to spread the word about the day on social media. Here is a tweet to get you started:
Now that we're over half way through January, it's high time we talked about Ditch New Years Resolutions Day. Will you be participating this year? Head over to Always The Holidays to learn more. 😎 🍾 #DitchNewYearsResolutionsDay… Share on X

What is a national day?

National days of the year are a fun way to celebrate odd and unusual foods, animals and items that you come into contact with.

Be sure to check out this national day’s guide for more fun days to celebrate.

Scrabble tiles spelling out the word "January" in honor of the national days of January.

There are close to 2000 national days in the year and over 150 of them are celebrated in January. To see them all, have a look at this post to discover more about the national days in January.

Is food your thing? Each day of the month has a food or drink associated with it, too. You’ll find all the January food holidays here.

Be sure to also check out these other national days this month:

  • Stick to Your New Year’s Resolution Day – Forget ditching your New Year’s goals, let’s try sticking to them! Check out this day, dedicated to just that!
  • National Cream Puff Day – Do you have a sweet tooth? If so, make sure you head over to our post to learn all about National Cream Puff Day!
  • National Curried Chicken Day – Not a sweets fan? Try a savory national day like National Curried Chicken Day.
  • National Sticker Day – Did you love stickers as a kid? Head over to our post on National Sticker Day to learn about sticker activities and the history of stickers.
  • National Green Juice Day – Celebrate this day by visiting this post to get a simple green juice recipe that both beginners and experienced juicers will enjoy!

Pin this post on Ditch New Year’s Resolutions Day for later

Would you like a reminder of this post for Ditch New Year’s Resolutions Day? Just pin this image to one of your trivia boards on Pinterest so that you can easily find it later.

You can also watch our YouTube video to learn about more national days in January.

A street with go on and give up written in yellow paint and a text overlay near the top of the image that celebrates Ditch New Year's Resolutions Day.

Jess author photoAbout the author

Since graduating from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Jess has been living and working in Los Angeles, CA. She is a freelance writer, specializing in content related to fashion, food and drink and film industry topics.  Find out more about Jess here.

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