New Year’s resolutions are traditionally made every year by loads of individuals. Most have resolutions about dieting, breaking bad habits and money spending and saving.
In the vast world of billions of people making resolutions, we all come to the same questions- why now and how do we plan to maintain the changes that are challenging to follow through on.
I decided to choose a word that speaks to how I want my year to go instead of explicitly detailing my resolutions. This practice is one that I have observed many gravitating to, losing the very rigid scheduling that formerly went into a New Year’s resolution.
For example, if I resolved to read a book a week this new year, I would get overwhelmed and pressured with such a focused goal. Thus, the enjoyable task I want to do becomes more unbearable, which then makes me not want to read. This can also be seen as the domino effect of New Year’s resolutions – start strong, get overwhelmed and pressured and stop doing said resolution.
In a word-driven version, I might say peace is my word of the year, describing the tone of my year and not the exact task.
Then, I would identify things in my life and remove the ones that simply don’t bring me peace.
If a situation arose where this wasn’t possible, maybe at a stressful job or in high-stakes schooling, try discovering ways that you can find peace, like by reading, spa days and so many other peaceful activities.
During presents times, there is so much uncertainty, and horrific things happen every day right in front of our eyes. Let’s focus this new year on maintaining healthy lifestyles and letting go of the things that make us miserable, including stringent rules and unrealistic resolutions for our fantasy selves.
Making yourself your biggest priority is much better than loose resolutions. Spend 2022 as happy as can be and in the moment.
