What exactly is a promise? Well according to the dictionary, to promise someone is to tell them that you will certainly do something. Surely that is a fair explanation of the word but what does it mean to us? What is the point of a promise?
 
Nowadays people tend to make and break promises as if breaking promises is nothing. This simply means that the word 'promise' has lost its value. A promise is now just a group of words put together to make someone else feel better...well... until it is broken of course!
 
Imagine how ideal life would be if everyone stopped breaking their promises. That way, we would be able to trust each other. What is happening right now is that we force our hearts and minds to believe the promises we hear, just to overpower those feelings of doubt (those 'what ifs' that come when a person promises something).

We obviously cannot persuade everyone to keep their promises but we can always make that small, tiny-tot difference by keeping our own promises. This will encourage the people we interact with to keep theirs as well and as time goes on, the word 'promise' will regain its actual meaning and people will live more truthful lives.

You are probably wondering, "What more do I need to do to make sure that I keep my promises?" Well, not keeping your promises can actually be classified as lying, so one way that guarantees the keeping of promises is to stay true to yourself. If you stay true to yourself, there will not be a place for lies. You will know exactly who you are and what you want from your life. Being true to yourself also means that you know your strengths, your weaknesses and your capabilities. That way you will not promise things that are beyond your capability.

Indeed, it is going to be difficult at first. How are you going to manage to get your annoying little sibling to let you go to town alone without promising him or her that chocolate bar (which you have never bothered to buy) or that expensive toy that you saw on TV last night?

It all goes down to how determined you are to achieve this goal. I cannot be determined on your behalf, nor can your parents or anybody else. This is where the saying, “You reap what you sow,” comes in. What you put in, in terms of your determination, is what determines what you will receive at the end.