Every Jan. 1 millions of committed, determined individuals formally promise themselves they’ll eat healthier foods, drink less alcohol, exercise more regularly, waste less time watching video screens, be kinder to animals, spend more time with family and friends, or volunteer for deserving causes during the new year. But it’s nearly impossible to succeed at multiple self-improvement projects simultaneously; once someone fails to reach even one of his or her stated aims, the resolver in question often gets discouraged and gives up on everything he or she was hoping to accomplish. It’s no wonder America has an overabundance of junk-food-inhaling, beer-swilling, flabby, reality-TV-watching, dog-kicking individuals who rarely leave their homes for anything, let alone to socialize and/or volunteer.

Making one realistic resolution and sticking to it makes far more sense than trying to adhere to scores of such vows. Rome was no more rebuilt in a year than it was built in a day. But selecting one and only one objective is no easy task.

Those wanting motivation to make a New Year’s resolution worth sticking to would do well to reflect upon some noted, accomplished individuals who, due to their demise last year, no longer have that opportunity.

Maurice Sendak, a writer and illustrator of children’s books that delighted multiple generations of children, was one of them; so was retired General Norman Schwarzkopf. Former United States Sens. George McGovern, Arlen Specter, Daniel Inouye and Warren Rudman all passed away last year; so did science fiction writer Ray Bradbury, novelist Gore Vidal, hairdresser Vidal Sassoon, and author/Cosmopolitan Editor in Chief Helen Gurley Brown. Major League Baseball Players Association union chief Marvin Miller died in 2012, as did the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, unintentional newsmaker Rodney King, Richard Nixon’s designated dirty trickster Charles Colson, and three-time Olympic heavyweight boxing champion Teofilo Stevenson. Some or all of the above were likely reported and/or opined about by two other prominent casualties of 2012, CBS newsman Mike Wallace and syndicated columnist William Raspberry.

Neil Armstrong, the first man to tread on the moon, no longer walks the earth. Neither does Sally Ride, the first American woman to go into space. Singer Whitney Houston passed away all too soon, but given revelations of horrific misconduct by one of his assistants, which occurred under his apparently lax watch, Penn State football coach Joe Paterno (and his previously sterling reputation) might have been better off departing sooner.

Those who grew up when television was black-and-white and had but three networks bid fond farewells in 2012 to crooner Andy Williams, comedienne Phyllis Diller, sitcom actors Andy Griffith (Sheriff Andy Taylor and later Ben Matlock), Sherman Hemsley (George Jefferson), George Lindsey (Goober Pyle), Larry Hagman (Major Anthony Nelson and later J.R. Ewing), Ernest Borgnine (Commander Quinton McHale), Ron Palillo (Arnold Horshack), Robert Hegyes (Juan Epstein), Jack Klugman (Oscar Madison and later Quincy, M.E.), and Davy Jones, a member of the Monkees, the first made-for-TV rock group.

Donna Summer can no longer work (and sing) hard for her money, and Richard Dawson has kissed his last “Family Feud” contestant. Last year also marked the final curtain calls for Don Cornelius, creator and host ”“ for more than two decades ”“ of “Soul Train,” and Dick Clark, who cheerfully served as America’s New Year’s Eve host during an entertainment career that spanned parts of eight decades.

Former Major League Baseball players who passed away in 2012 include Eddie Yost, Dave May, Dave Boswell, Hawk Taylor, Jimmy Stewart, Frank Pastore, Ken Rowe, Champ Summers, Bruce Von Hoff, Jack Kralick, Johnny Pesky, Jerry Lynch, Howie Koplitz, Gary Carter, Bill Skowron, Don Mincher, Andy Replogle, Ed Stroud, Pedro Borbon, Bob Myrick, Mike Hershberger, Kevin Hickey and Thad Tillotson.

A disturbing number of current and former professional football players ended their own lives with firearms in 2012, including Junior Seau, Jovan Belcher, Ray Easterling and Mike Current. Other gridiron standouts who died last year include Steve Van Buren, Alex Karras, Ben Davidson, R. C. Owens, Alex Webster and Art Malone. Whether any succumbed to “natural causes” is an open question, given new information that continues coming to light regarding the effect playing the game has on the brains of its participants.

Far sadder than the possibility professional football players have knowingly or unknowingly shortened their life spans in order to continue generating billions of dollars worth of profits for already-wealthy individuals who never set foot on a gridiron were the deaths late last month of 20 first-graders at a Newtown, Conn. elementary school at the hands of a deranged, heavily armed gunman.

So what’s the best way to honor not only those no longer with us but also those who are? Resolve to enthusiastically, vigorously and simply live every day to its fullest, and treat everyone with the sincerity, sensitivity, dignity, love and respect that we desire for ourselves.

— Andy Young teaches in Kennebunk and lives in Cumberland.