These past couple of years, I stopped making new year's resolutions. I know it's a tradition but every time I made a list of goals that ranged from eating healthier, going to Japan, and just making various changes to become the person that I always wanted to be, only the first few months seemed to be a great start. As the days went on, my motivation deterred. I grew increasingly impatient and disappointed in myself and wondered how I couldn't do these simple tasks that all these other people could do. However, these were not simple tasks. I didn't plan it effectively and only had myself to blame for that.
When I realized the redundancy in giving up in achieving my goals, I decided to stop making new year's resolutions. What was the point if I already knew the goals I had in mind and only put it into effect on the first day of the year? So I decided to take a different route and set goals with realistic achievement dates . For the goals that I do not achieve on the date specified, I don't beat myself up about it and find another date that would work out better. Nonetheless, instead of giving up short again, I kept on trying.
To remain consistent in reaching these goals, I need constant reminders and I'm not just talking about a dreamy landscape picture with an inspiring quote centered on a fridge reminder. I try to remember what made me so passionate about all of these goals in the first place. In a sense, this counts for every single challenge we encounter. In the process of improving ourselves in any given situation or goal being pursued, sometimes we fall short, get hurt, and give up. In other instances when we fail, we compromise and make changes to keep going. If we were to accept defeat so early on, how would we even know that we pushed ourselves to our limits to reach the silver lining?
I'm not necessarily saying that you shouldn't make new year's resolutions at all, but I'm reminding you that it is all just the same as any other goal we commit to. Why should we treat them any differently than all of the goals we make? Whether you give up, someone changes your mind, you find that that particular road wasn't going to lead anywhere, or that you had some minor setbacks, make it count. Be sure to know your starting point is and where you want to be at the end of it. When you lose sight of your ending point, dig for those resonating reminders that harnessed your original intentions and passion for it. It will be there for you, patiently waiting as long as you keep on with the struggle and don't give up.
