Every year I take some time on New Year's Day to write a list of my goals and resolutions for the year to come. I sit at the kitchen table and daydream about all of my future goals and aspirations. Each time I genuinely feel like I will accomplish these goals. Then within a few days, my goals just slip away. I feel like most people can relate to this. It isn't that you don't want to accomplish your goals life simply just gets in the way.
Due to this too-common theme of people not sticking to their resolutions, the pessimistic opinions come out from others who also have had trouble sticking to their resolutions. We constantly hear "If you want to change do it now, why wait for a holiday?" or "You won't do it anyways so why even have a New Year's Resolution?" I have to disagree with this negative rhetoric. I think it's wrong and only continues to discourage people.
Okay, sometimes we slip. We create a goal and we don't meet it. That is where the negativity comes in. I think that we are all missing the point. Being able to understand yourself enough to create a goal for yourself is an accomplishment in itself. Rome wasn't built in a day and your goals won't be either. For anyone to ever reach their goals, they must have a progress-over-perfection outlook. Society puts this unrealistic expectation on all of us demanding we meet our goals as soon as we create them. Unfortunately, that is nearly impossible for most of us. We should build each other up and encourage the fact that we have goals that we one day would like to achieve. If we continue to encourage others and ourselves to keep putting forth an effort to achieving our goals we will all get that much closer. Our goals may not be achieved this week or this month but with a positive attitude they one day will be achieved.
So this New Years, if a friend tells you a goal of theirs for the new year; support them. Tell them you are proud of them for creating a goal and having ambition to achieve it. Also, support yourself. If you have a goal/goals for yourself that's amazing. If not, that's okay too. Just know that as long as you continue to believe in yourself and spread positivity, you will be able to conquer anything you set your mind to. Happy New Year, xo!
