In the next few days, you will probably hear about those infamous New Year’s resolutions and sayings like “New year, new me.” These resolutions might be about losing weight, managing time better, reading more, saying one nice thing a day or just being awesome.
While these aspirations for greatness and self-improvement are refreshing, we should keep a few things in mind so our resolutions can help us as much as possible and not hurt us.
The truth is, you might fail.
There’s going to be a day or week that you cannot make it to the gym at all. You might break and eat that chocolate cake. You may spend all day in bed watching Netflix instead of studying.
This is all OK.
If you expect perfection to begin with, you’re setting yourself up for failure. We are all human and that means we make mistakes. When you break that image of a perfect streak, you might think you’ve failed the whole resolution so you should just give up on it entirely and wait for next year.
If you make room for natural failure in your resolution, you can come back from your mistakes with ease instead of feeling like you have to start all over again. Picking yourself back up can just be another step towards the greatness you deserve and have desired for so long.
If you fail and have trouble picking yourself back up, do not brand yourself a failure. If you do, you fall into the trap of not trying hard just because that’s who you think you are. You are under no obligation to be the person you were yesterday. If you think of yourself as someone who works hard toward your goals, you will become that person.
You may be against New Year’s resolutions. You may think they are too cliché, or you shouldn't bother because no one keeps them anyway. That’s okay, too! If you want to change something in your life, you do not need a calendar date to determine that. You are the captain of your own life. You decide when and if you need a change.
Any day could be the first day of the rest of your life! It could be Jan. 1 or it could be five months from now. Whenever it is, just remember to stay positive and love yourself all the way through the process, especially when it becomes difficult. I hope you all become the person you want to be, not the one you think you are.
