The misbehaving monkey’s New Year resolutions

There once was a monkey, whose name was Moki and he lived on the beautiful island of Bali. Every year, thousands of tourists came to visit the island and Moki loved nothing more than to play tricks on them. He would steal their sunglasses and their snacks, sit on their heads and tried to scare them. He had the best time being a misbehaving monkey. But even though he had fun, he did notice that the tourists would become upset, sad and angry at his antics and sometimes he really scared little children and that made him feel bad.

One day, during the Christmas holidays, when many tourists visit the island, Moki overheard a group of tourists talking about the upcoming New Year and their New Year’s resolutions. They wanted to work out more, spend less money and be kind to each other. Moki realized they made resolutions that would make them better people and Moki was tired of being a misbehaving monkey, so he wanted to join in on this tradition. Moki was inspired by their resolutions and decided to make some of his own. But first he needed to do some research as he knew little about this New Year’s tradition.

He discovered that most people will fail their resolutions! As much as 88 percent will forget about their resolutions and not bother keeping them. So he realized it was important to find a way to keep his new resolutions. The key to keeping resolutions is making small, measurable goals. For the new year, Moki wanted to be a helpful monkey. He wrote down three resolutions that would make him a helpful monkey.

Firstly, he wanted to show the tourists all the best places on the island, secondly he wanted warn them about the crazy traffic, and lastly he wanted to bring them fruit from the jungle. Moki knew that these were big changes for him, but he was determined to make them happen. For each resolution he wrote down a small, measurable and attainable goal.

His first goal was to make friends with one child who was visiting Bali on their winter holiday and show them around the island. His second goal was to help one tourist safely drive a scooter around the island and his last goal was to bring one banana a day to give to a random tourist.

On New Year’s Day, Moki got to work. He greeted a family with two kids with a friendly wave. The kids weren’t scared of him and started to play with him, he made them laugh and giggle, so when he offered to take the family on a tour of the island, the parents agreed. Moki was so happy. He showed them all the hidden beaches, the beautiful temples, and the delicious food that Bali had to offer.

In the afternoon when he brought the family back from their tour, Moki set out to look for a tourist that was struggling with their scooter. He saw a young man who seemed to have forgotten to put on his helmet. Moki went up to the scooter, opened the storage underneath the seat and showed the man the helmet. “Silly monkey” the man thought, but just as he was about to drive off, he saw an accident happen. The driver wasn’t wearing his helmet and it looked serious. The man quickly realized Moki was right to point him to his helmet, so he put it on, thanked the monkey and drove off.

Moki was very pleased with himself, so he set out to finish his third goal. Get a banana from the jungle and give it to a tourist. He grabbed a banana and started to look for someone to give it to. He noticed a family with an angry toddler. “Mommy, I’m so hungry!!” the little girl was screaming and crying. Moki quickly ran up to the family and handed the little girl the banana. The family was very grateful for this sweet and generous monkey.

As the weeks went by, Moki became known as the kindest and most helpful monkey of Bali. He would spend his mornings as a tourguide, his afternoons helping in traffic and his evenings handing out fruit in town. Tourists loved him and he was proud of himself for keeping his New Year’s resolutions. And Moki knew that with a little bit of hard work and determination, he could make any resolution a reality.


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