By Christina Rella
Every year, New Year rolls around and the entire world suddenly makes a bunch of goals for how they’re going to better themselves now that January is here. While I understand the point of trying to achieve a “new and improved” you during the new year, I can’t help but think about how this is also pretty ridiculous. As I’ve gotten older, I can’t help but think about how it is so absurd that people feel the need to wait until January 1st to start their goals.
I think this is why so many people have a hard time sticking to their goals; they place a timestamp on when they want to begin bettering themselves and suddenly the goal turns into more of an assignment rather than something they genuinely want to do for themselves. The best way to stick to resolutions is to form habits out of them. Habits take some time to form, so this is also part of why I feel that waiting until the official new year to begin a resolution is unnecessary.
Start improving yourself as soon as you feel the urge to. There is no better time to go after what you want than the initial moment you feel motivated to. For example, if you’re planning to work out more in the New Year, start now! Begin to build your routine so that when the new year actually comes, you’ll have already formed the habit of it. It will be easier to build upon your resolution rather than to just start it from scratch.
Another way to keep your resolutions is to make sure that they involve at least one thing that you enjoy. Sticking to the working out example, include things like listening to your favorite songs or dressing in cute workout gear (if that’s what you like); adding in things that excite you, no matter how small, will make the task that much more fun to complete.
So many people choose resolutions that involve things that they regularly dread and that’s why they so quickly come to an end. Resolutions don’t have to be strict regimens; allow your resolutions to include things that you enjoy. At the end of the day, you choose to do resolutions because YOU want to, so you might as well make them enjoyable. There are no rules when it comes to the journey to a better you!