Promises to yourself are usually born from something you want to escape or never repeat — the bad night, the scare, the low point. New Year’s resolutions work this way. And while the wound is fresh, keeping the promise is easy.

The test comes later. “A promise you make to yourself is easier to keep when its trigger is still around, but once things change and a reason seems non-existent, it gets harder to keep. That is when keeping your word matters.”

That’s why resolutions quietly dissolve: not weakness exactly, but the fading of the reason. Innocent’s counter is to go back and fetch it — remind yourself why you made the promise, and draw from that the strength to get through the tempting phase.