This isn’t your typical New Year’s resolution post inspiring you to change your ways and become a new person, but it may give you some new perspective on how to make the most of this time of year. If making resolutions feels stressful or like a “should”, then read on.
For me, the week between Christmas and New Years feels like one long, mild hangover. It’s a haze of gratitude, exhaustion, cabin fever, dishes, wanting to feel productive, but also wanting to just sleep, and for the love of our sanity, when does school start again?
November and December are super stimulating with all the planning, shopping, laughter, grief, people, work, events, sugar, carbs, and alcohol, and then we have 7 days to choose a resolution to change our life, become a new person, and transition into a new year. Cue DJ scratch … er … what?? For us in the northern hemisphere, the new year is also in the middle of freaking winter, a time of hibernation, nourishment, and rest. It couldn’t be a worse time for new resolutions and change in the natural sense!
Don’t get me wrong, I believe in setting goals and taking action, and I believe there is significance in the beginning of a new year. Turning the page, literally and figuratively, into a new year or decade plus time off of work and school can provide the time needed to create new goals and visions. But, as we all know the whole resolution thing doesn’t seem to work for most. I propose we approach the new year differently by recognizing the start of a new year and honoring our natural desire to hibernate and nourish ourselves. I propose we use this time to create, ultimately creating more thoughtful and attainable resolutions for the life we want.
My invitation for you is to think of this time as more reflective than resolute. More nourishing than pressure filled. More preparatory than action taking. Rather than specific resolutions like losing 20 pounds, being more productive, getting up earlier, not eating sugar, etc., what if we reflected on how we want to BE in 2020? The “to-dos” can come later, but what if you spent the next couple of weeks, or, dare I say, months, defining and envisioning what an amazing 2020 looks like to YOU?
I can already feel the questions this timeline creates. Isn’t that too late to make real change in 2020? But ... too late for whom? Also, it’s never too late.This is your life and before you make too many unrealistic, forced resolutions based on all the marketing hype out there, take the time to figure out what’s important to you and why. What purpose will eating better and waking up earlier serve? When you can answer this question, it will make the resolutions you ultimately make (if any) that much more meaningful and attainable.
Here are some questions to get you started:
How do you want to feel in 2020?
What/who is already good and how can you create more of it?
What/who is missing from your life that you want back?
What/whom can you shed to free up space for the good?
What are the “to-dos” that can make all of this happen?
Happy New Year and Happy Reflecting!
*Credit to Amanda Cook and her thoughts on how we can be more aligned to the seasons.