New Year, New You?
How to set yourself up for success in the new year.
As I sit here writing this at the beginning of January, I am being flooded by posts of new year’s resolutions, rituals to let go of the previous year, and the best way to make this year “your year.”
I don’t know about you, but personally I find it all to be a bit overwhelming. Similar to trying to find that perfect diet that will be the one for you, it is tempting to think that if you just do the right ritual or have the right resolution, this will be the year that it all finally comes together. Unfortunately, it does not work that way. We have all heard that familiar statistic – 80% of new year’s resolutions are abandoned by mid-February. And there are even some studies that say the majority of resolutions don’t even last until the end of January.
There are many reasons that resolutions don’t last – we tend to pick giant, overwhelming goals, the resolutions aren’t specific enough, we make goals but don’t make a plan of how to actually achieve them, we give up on the first bad day, we underestimate how long it takes to change a habit, and so on and so on.
All that being said, I do enjoy the hope and optimism that comes with a new year and like to spend some time intentionally thinking about the year ahead and what I want.
In the past I have tried making a 19 for 2019 list, vision boarding, writing and then burning my intentions for the new year, and just making a very long list of plain old resolutions. While they were all fun to do (especially the burning one), none really resonated with me completely (if one of them does with you, that’s great!).
So what did I do to start this new year?
I do think some self-reflection is important, especially after the challenging (to put it mildly) year that was 2020, so I journaled about the highlights and lowlights of the previous year, anything I want to let go of, and anything I learned from the previous year. I decided that for this new year, I would keep it simple and just pick a word that I want to be the theme for my year. I have done that in the past and found that it was easy for me to keep track of and something that I can come back to time and time again. My word for this year is OPEN. I want to be open to all that this year has in store and be open with the people in my life, on social media, and here on this blog. Here’s to a new year!
