This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Bristol chapter.
I’ve made many New Year’s resolutions throughout my life, but my goal for 2015 is unlike any I’ve made before. While the ones I made for 2012-14 were enjoyable, if a little difficult, I wonder: did they really enriched my life in a sustainable way?
In short, no.
I don’t think this is anything to do with the specific resolutions themselves, however, and is more to do with the nature of them: they all are measurable, and they all have an expiry date. There’s nothing wrong with aiming to lose more pounds or spender fewer of them, it’s just that these goals are far easier to achieve in practise that those that require consistent monitoring.
With this in mind, I have decided on my personal resolution for 2015: To Be More Selfish.
This might sound like an insensitive idea, but stay with me! While selfishness itself often carries negative connotations, and often rightly so, in this instance I do not mean to to think only of myself and to disregard the feelings of others, I simply intend to stop trying to please others at the expense of my own happiness.
Is that really so bad?
On many occasions where I, or those close to me, have acted ‘selflessly’ to help someone out, it has ultimately ended up causing a degree of stress or harm, or even backfiring entirely on both sides, whether it’s changing plans of where to live based on someone else’s situation, or committing to an unappealing night out for fear of being left behind. Chances are, if you commit to do something you don’t really want to, you won’t enjoy it, you certainly won’t apply the same level of enthusiasm, and you’ll probably end up feeling the worse for it. It’s all too easy to place yourself second in this day and age, and in lots of cases this is something to be celebrated, but if in doing so you sacrifice your personal happiness, is it worth it?
I’m not advocating vanity, cruelty, or any behaviour which would truly negatively affect others, but the start of a new year is a great excuse to take better care of yourself. Have a think about what makes you happy, and eliminate things that don’t.
You deserve to start living for yourself, so why not try?
For more ideas see these Tips for Self Care