Happy New Year Friends!
I hope you’ve had a happy holiday season and are taking a positive mindset into the new year!
This time of year normally brings with it a wave of enthusiasm for resolutions and the overall wish to be supported while achieving them. For me, I have decided I want to begin writing again, so hello and thank you for reading! This past year definitely came with some unexpected turns that shifted my attention elsewhere, but I'm glad to be back and enjoying visualizing my thoughts and sharing with our community again.
With the new year, a fear of permanence and regularity sets in like the devil on your shoulder. As our calendar begins anew, many of us feel that we too must begin anew. For some that might be reinvigorating a passion for old hobbies, and for others it's an opportunity to try something completely new while getting out of a comfort zone. Whether you choose to escape the norm or not, it's a good time for introspection.
Now, don’t let this blog get washed down with all the other content flooding your feed during this time of year. I am a believer in resolutions but not in the mainstream - fast - action - quick - result ways in which they won’t stick. Now most of us will give up on these resolutions before March, if we are one of the few committed for that long. So how do we set goals for ourselves and wade through the minor and major trials and tribulations of our lives without losing track of the goals we pledged ourselves to? I don't know. Everyone is a different person, is my answer, but I do have some ideas. From the deluge of new year personal growth articles, posts, and friend circles there are grains of truth, and within those grains of truth you can create a guide to push yourself as far as you wish to go.
Although most will not succeed in sticking to all promises they’ve made, the act of setting the goals in the first place should be celebrated, and replicated whenever possible. In many ways the act of just thinking about ways in which you would want to improve your life is a step in the right direction. All good habits start off as ideas - who you want to become - what traits you want to develop. It is the application of those ideas that creates the real change we seek. For example, you might wish to be healthier, and in January, when the momentum is strongest, you might be overachieving in the workout aspect of health, but the other areas that truly make the difference fall wayward. The key to a good resolution isn’t a flash sprint to the end line, but a conscious shift in how you identify yourself over a period of time.
For most, it takes only 21 days to adopt a habit, and 90 days to integrate it into their identity. The person wishing to be healthier might use the momentum of the new year to exercise more, however, because they wish this resolution to stick, they will also look into ways to change their habits to align with the kind of person who is healthy. In this way the resolution is not directed towards working out, eating healthy, or getting 10,000 steps a day, rather it's about becoming a person who sees themselves as healthy, and making decisions you believe a healthy person would make. Not having a soda for lunch every day, or bringing your lunch instead of rolling the dice in the age old game of “whats for lunch today”, where most likely your cravings will win and you won’t have a very nutritious lunch. Making minor changes in your decision making by shifting how you see yourself, the principles you keep and the person you identify as should help you achieve your goals.
In the past, I would have been considered a cynic of the resolution wave that occurs around January every year, however, as I have aged I understand why it is so popular. Everyone I know, and a large majority of the population (I risk to assume), wants better for themselves in one way or another. What I have found is that this time of year brings around the most introspection. Maybe it's because we are spending a lot of time with family and work is slow so we have more time to think about how and what we want to improve on. Or maybe it's just because our feeds are flooded with self growth quotes and resolutions galore. Regardless of how, or why, these ideas are being brought to our minds, they are worth entertaining at the least.
The best way for a resolution to be made, and matched, is to make it concise and take steps towards the goal each and every day. Now I am not saying every resolution needs to be as straightforward as “I want to lose 10 lbs and read over 20 books” (oddly specific.. pay no mind to my list of resolutions below), but having a clear idea of what you want to do and where you want to be requires some specificity. There is of course room for more vague resolutions that fit into the ways in which you wish to improve this year, but above all else remember this, the act of simply looking into the future and seeing where you want to be, is progress non the less.
I hope you are able to achieve every one of your resolutions you set out for yourself this year. And if you haven’t made any resolutions, that's okay as well. Maybe this blog will provide you with the motivation to look forward and take steps towards your goals, or maybe not. It is up to you and only you to set your resolutions, however big or small, and your self worth is equally up to you regardless of whether those resolutions are met. For my part, I am proud of you for trying - and I hope you keep trying, editing, revising, and changing your goals throughout the year. The act of self growth is as small as a thought, and as big as an action. As long as we are working towards a better version of ourselves, I'd say we are doing quite alright.
Below I have shared 8 of my new year's resolutions, ranging from concise check off the list items to more vague personal qualities that I wish to improve on in this new year. That 5k seems to be there every year, but this just might be the year it gets checked off the list… hopefully.
Resolutions / Ways in Which I Will Improve Myself this Year
- Practice gratitude daily
- Run one 5k
- Become a better / more diverse cook
- Spend more time writing, not just a personal journal, but about topics and conversations I care about or wish to learn more on
- Be reliable, to myself and to those in my life
- Plan and go through with 12 experiences throughout the year [camping trip, world travel, community service project, to name a few]
- Find ways to manage my emotions and feelings, developing skills to ground myself when I feel out of control
- 20 + books read this year [I just recently fell in love with reading this past year but didn't push myself, this year I want to]
My favorite book from last year - The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason. An easily digestible book filled with ancient parables that make the material light and fun, while also providing invaluable advice on how to manage and welcome happiness / money into your life. This will be the second year now where I have read it in January and gifted the copy to someone close to me that I feel would benefit from the contents of such a fantastic read. Maybe it would be of use to you or a loved one, I highly recommend it.