It’s 2018! The calendar has turned over. Out with the old and in with the new. Have you made your resolutions for the new year?
As I stated in the last post, I am sorry to see 2017 go, because it has actually been a good year for me. I started a new journey to find me. I hope to continue the awesome progress in this year as well.
A lot of people start the new year out with goals and resolutions. They have every intention of making this THE year they change their lives. The new year brings new energy. “I can do it this time” echoes throughout the land.
By January 31st most of the resolutions have already been left stranded along the wayside, tossed out like extra heavy baggage. The energy of the holidays has worn off. New year energy wanes within the first week. Well intentioned resolutions suddenly seem less important than they did a couple weeks earlier.
They say it takes at least 21 days for a behavior to become a habit. Round that up to a month. A full month. To look at it that way, it doesn’t seem so formidable. All you have to do is convince yourself to stay consistent for a month.
It sounds easy enough. But try it. If there is no real motivation behind the goal a month is forever. Take weight loss for example. So many of us decide this is the year I’m going to get healthy and lose all the extra weight I have put on over time. Diet plans are written up, groceries are stocked up and energy is high. An exercise routine might even be in order.
Then four days in a flu hits. You get sucked down into bed for a couple days to rest and recover. You need to eat to regain your strength and you know the foods on your diet plan aren’t enough to bring you back. So you wisely throw the diet plan away until you are back to full health.
How long does it take to get back onto the diet plan? How soon do you start back up on the treadmill again? Or does that flu do in your plans to diet and exercise and lose weight. Is it enough to forego all those wonderful resolutions from only a few days ago?
There are always reasons we end up not following our resolution plans. Life, Fate or whatever you want to name it, throws a wrench in our plans to test us to see how strong we are in our desire to obtain the goal. Can we stick to it?
In order to achieve our goals and keep our resolutions we have to choose things we really want in our hearts. It does us no good to make a resolution to lose weight just because other people think we are fat. If WE have no real desire to lose that weight it’s a waste of our time to even write the resolution down. There’s no chance we will see it through.
So take the time this year to make resolutions to change your life in ways that YOU want to see. What do you want to do for YOU? Is it time for a career change? New hobbies? New health goals? Write up your resolutions around changes you think need to happen for yourself.
As for me I’m not going to make a lot of resolutions and set a lot of goals this year. I will be happy with myself if I can just continue on this journey to find myself and keep making progress. If I can move along without meeting a standstill or a stop point through the year then I will consider myself a success?
How do you see your life changed in the next twelve months?