Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching and we’re in that time of year where you either stick with your New Year’s resolution or you pretend like it didn’t happen. If you have been going strong, good for you! But, if you’re like the rest of us, you gave up on your New Year’s resolution about two weeks ago, or didn’t even start. Regardless of where you fall on the spectrum, now’s the time of year you can go either way. If you’re like me, here’s how you let your NYR down gently. .
- Denial
If you said “I’ll start tomorrow” for the last two weeks, it’s probably time to get real with yourself: you’re not starting tomorrow, you won’t start Monday, and you won’t start next week. Take this opportunity to start right now, whatever your resolution is, take a step in the right direction. If you want better grades, review your notes right now. If you want to lose weight, go to the gym.
- Anger
It’s totally understandable to be annoyed at yourself for not sticking to your plan. Be annoyed if you must, but nobody’s perfect, so don’t be too hard on yourself. You can use this feeling to motivate yourself into sticking your resolution.
- Bargaining
You may be at a point where you still think you can make it work. But odds are you just aren’t as motivated toward this goal as you thought. You can try picking a smaller, short-term goal to get you started in the right direction, or give up entirely.
- Depression
Now that you’ve realized it’s nearly February and your NYR is out the door, you may be sad. Don’t fret, there are 11 more months this year and an extra day to make new and more exciting goals and try new things. No need to be sad!
- Acceptance
You have now completed the circle by realizing that, whatever your goal was, whatever you wanted to change about yourself, is unimportant. Believe me when I say you were great in 2015, and you are going to be just as amazing in 2016.
If you never had a NYR or you made one and followed these steps to let it go, don’t feel discouraged. Just remember all of the yearbook messages you got in elementary school telling you to never change, and keep on being yourself! You don’t need to change, but if you do want to make new goals, there is no need to make it for the New Year; you can make a new goal and day of the week!