It's December 31st, 2018 - New Year's Eve - and I'm over here thinking I need to be making some resolutions. I mean, everyone's doing it - usually it has to do with something along the lines of eat healthier, exercise more, sleep more, travel more, read more, etc. How many of you have made resolutions year after year and they just don't stick though?! Me literally every year...until last year.
But that's because I didn't make any resolutions...hehe...I just reevaluated instead ;)
A resolution is a firm decision to do or not to do something. For example, like I mentioned above, I bet most people made the resolution to "lose weight and eat healthier" last year - meaning you made the FIRM DECISION to do so. Well, what if today you're the same weight or more than you were this time last year, or you ate healthier for a couple months, then went off the deep end for the next couple...or next 10 months haha...
To me, if I made the "resolution" to lose weight and then I'm the same weight or more than I was, then I've failed. And that's a sucky feeling. Then, I tend to just beat myself up for continually "failing" year after year, why do I even make resolutions? Why am I so undisciplined? Why can't I just stick to something for ONE stinking year!? Etc., etc.
In reality, I probably didn't purposefully go against my NYE resolution...life just happens, we grow, and we learn more and more about ourselves and our personal habits as the years go on. So for me, resolutions just didn't make sense - but reevaluating did. When I approached the upcoming year in this way, I realized that I actually had so much SUCCESS in the last year (and I still had room to improve in so many areas) but I'd really grown SO much in the last year. And guess what? When you make a goal or "resolution" that is worth it to you, it's probably going to take a while to accomplish. Sometimes it doesn't, but I bet most of the time it might take longer than a year to really "change" something about you or your habits.
So give yourself some grace and just reevaluate where you were a year ago to where you are now, meditate, and appreciate your successes and times of growth in the good and the bad. I bet you that you've accomplished WAY more than your resolutions and you will be so proud of yourself.
A quick tip for any kind of "change" or growth you want to see after reevaluating: give yourself managable time frames and ONE thing to focus on at a time.
For example, if you want to continue your journey of becoming an overall healthier person (mentally, physically, spiritually, etc.), maybe consider breaking things up like this:
Spiritually:
For the month of January, I'm not going to change anything in my schedule or lifestyle other than carving out 30 minutes every morning to read my Bible/meditate/pray, etc.
Physically:
Now that I seem to have built a good habit of spending time spiritually growing every single day, I'll work on my physical health.
For the next month or two, I would like to slowly build up to 30 minutes of activity per day (could just be a 30 minute walk!) I will start for two days a week for the next two weeks, then 3 days a week the next two weeks after that, etc.
I will also start by replacing ONE ingredient or meal per week with a healthier option. For example, I will look into getting sugar-free and organic condiments one week, then I will work on getting all organic fruits the next week, etc. By the end of a month or two, I'll start trying out full new meals with ALL healthier ingredients slowly changing my taste pallet and habits, making it all managebale with my crazy work and family schedule.
You can make small little habit changes over time for every aspect of your life just like this. It can be hard to figure out how to do it alone sometimes though and/or you just need some accountability. This is a big part of my practice and I would love to help coach you through this next part of your journey. Reach out now here, my first initial appointment is free.
Happy New Year Everyone!