The new year brings promise and excitement for most people. It’s like you’re taking off some heavy layer of clothing that has last year’s drama and baggage draped all over it. It is my opinion that the severity of New Year’s resolutions come in waves. When you’re younger, the resolutions are pretty PG like giving up sweets, soda, being mean to your sibling, and not letting your playroom get too messy. As you grow up, they are more along the lines of not cursing so much, or trying to get coffee from Starbucks three times a week instead of five or six. Wherever they fall, New Year’s Resolutions are tough to make stick, and that is a fact.
Resolutions take a turn for the worse when all you do is write a list of things that you once did that you are no longer permitting yourself to do when the clock strikes twelve. If you get so used to doing something and then attempt to go cold turkey and stop doing it, you are essentially setting yourself up to fail. If you want to succeed at a resolution, there are certain steps you must take to make it work.
- Have your list prepared before you’re (potentially) intoxicated so your resolutions are actually possible.
- Voice these resolutions to other people. Accountability is what is going to keep you in check. If your friend or family member sees you reaching for sweets after you said you wouldn’t, they can (gently) slap your hand away from the cookie jar.
- Make small goals. We get so caught up in thinking that everything on our to-do list must get done right now but that’s not true. Take little steps at a time. Fold half the laundry basket to start out with. Only get one sweet instead of three. Sets goals that are achievable, because once you do it, you’ll be hooked on the feeling of following through with something you set your eyes on
- Be kind to yourself. Someone’s goal might be to run a marathon while yours might be to just make it a mile without stopping. Be proud of your victories, because you are the one holding yourself up.
So many people believe that New Year’s Resolutions are excuses to clink champagne glasses, scream cheers, and dance into the new year. What the new year really means is another year with the people you love, despite the hardships. It gives you the ability to look back on who you were exactly a year ago and either be thankful for how much you’ve changed, or grateful you’ve stayed the same. Whatever your goal may be, small or large, the new year is so filled with possibility that makes it seem exciting, yet daunting, because so much can happen in a year. If you’re like me, you are just starting your resolution as January comes to a close, viewing February as the true test to see if you can really stick to what you sent your eyes on. To everyone out there who is starting their resolution and climbing, or slowly walking, towards your goal (like me), here’s to you.