Letter 16: Forget New Year Resolutions. Let's Try Something Less Daunting and More Achievable.
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I recently had a revelation at the gas station.
I was standing at the gas pump minding my business when the weird gas pump TV came on (still confused about how those came to be a thing?) and newscaster Maria Menounos popped up on the screen.
“Looking to kick your year off right?! Here’s what I do! I take a week to reflect on my goals for last year, what I’ve accomplished and what I want to accomplish NEXT year! I write them all down and then get an accountability buddy to stay on track!”
I felt myself make a face at the little TV.
While I think Maria is well-intended here, that feels like A LOT.
A week to plan what I want to plan for the year? Really? And I’m giving my friend who also probably has a job ANOTHER job to make sure I’m keeping true to my word?!
Nah.
We Americans LOVE to apply pressure to ourselves!
More more more!
Goals are all well and good, but what happens when you have dogs and kids and a life and want to relax during the holidays and your brain needs a rest, not MORE STUFF to do?!
Also, thinking about what you want to do for the entire year is DAUNTING. There will be many things that come into play that will cause our goals or resolutions or whatever you want to call them to change or possibly no longer be relevant.
For many folks, we need less stuff to think about to both be less overwhelmed and to feel successful.
So I started thinking…what if it weren’t about things you want to change for the whole year, but just a season?
Maybe with starting simple, like identifying something I want to do more of, and something I want to do less of, JUST in winter, and a catalyst to help me do that. Otherwise, they’re simply wishes without something helping me to activate something different in my habits.
Then, in the spring, I’ll see how I did. If this felt helpful I’ll try something new with new goals in spring! If not, back to the drawing board.
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