January 1st has been and gone and I have made no New Year’s Resolutions. It feels great.
At last I have released myself from setting unrealistic goals, which I have either failed or forgotten by the third week of January.
It’s a huge relief to know that that I’m not going to fail to run 5K a week or forget that I said I’d be vegan whilst tucking into a bacon sandwich.
Why don’t I like New Year’s Resolutions?
Winter isn’t an easy time for change. Winter is tiring, days are short and the weather is temperamental. It’s the season for hunkering down, getting through and surviving. December and Christmas are exhausting and so it’s understandable that January doesn’t feel like the most inspiring time of the year.
Change doesn’t happen overnight. We are evolving, slowly and gradually. The clock doesn’t strike on the last day of the year for us to wake up as a different, “better” person in the next. To think we can change, literally overnight, is unrealistic, unhelpful and very disheartening.
365 days is a long time. Resolutions we set on 1st January are quite likely to be meaningless by the end of the year. What we want to do today, won’t necessarily be what we want to do tomorrow, let alone in 12 months time.
By nature of the word, resolutions are firm and inflexible. They’re all must and should, strict and disciplinarian, determined and unwavering.
There was a time when I championed such characteristics. I set lofty goals, wrote elaborate to-do lists and project managed myself with strict timelines. But I was blinkered, head down, ploughing on and not very happy.
No resolutions doesn’t mean no ambition
On 21st December, the winter solstice, I had a little time to think about what I want to do more of and less of over the coming months. I made two lists. I find this to be a kinder, and ultimately more successful, way of steering myself to behaviours I want to develop or ditch.
What would you like to do more of or less of this year?
You could make a cuppa and spend a few minutes noting down your own list in the notes on your phone, a scrap of paper or in the comments below.
Yes! I hate New Years Resolutions. I've always thought if I want to do something, I can do it any time of the year. My more and less: more breaks, less rushing.