5 reasons why a New Year’s resolution should actually matter this year
Every single year, we hit this same point. It doesn’t matter who we are, what type of lifestyle we live, what our job is, or what our background is. We all end-cap every single year with New Year's Eve day, and night. We go into the day hopeful and excited for the opportunity to cleanse our souls, forgive bad behavior, erase embarrassment, hide from cringe-worthy parenting moments, live a healthier lifestyle, and pump ourselves up for a fresh new beginning. Then as we cheers, kiss, sing while watching that ball drop, eagerly anticipating the fresh start upon us, it feels liberating to finally get to that point. It’s time for a new cycle to begin. We wake up the next morning with the best intentions of keeping a resolution that we are most likely only 50% committed to, at best.
Our hearts are in it, but is our head?
Is our soul REALLY in it?
Considering the crazy year 2020 was, we believe that if there were ever a year to create a New Years' resolution, this would be THE year. With that in mind, we’ve created a list of 5 reasons why it’s time to take these resolutions seriously. And to make it more fun, we've done our best to utilize all of the overused, cliche, slightly annoying, buzz words and phrases that have been forced upon us and splattered all over our social media pages.
Consider this your New Year's Resolution #resource for redefining.
First though, what exactly is a resolution? Well, as described by the dictionary it’s “a firm decision to do or not do something.”
The keyword here is FIRM. Meaning highly recommended you keep it, and be super #intentional about it. This is where most of us go south. We think about areas of change that we’d like to incorporate into our lives that are way too high-level, or just scraping the surface of a topic area that needs to be addressed. There is no grit to our goals, or no real action plan to implement the idea, so it all quickly falls apart.
This year though, it’s time to #levelup, and here’s why, with some thoughts on how:
1.) Our entire world learned in 2020 that anything can happen
We can never be too overconfident or comfortable with what we know. Since the pandemic hit, it’s most likely true that your life barely resembles what it used to be prior to March 2020. You have an opportunity now to re-prioritize, and re-align. These chances don’t come around often. Notice how we said “chance?” A positive mindset is critical to commit to a resolution and keeping it. Think about designing a resolution that is geared around determining what your PLAN B is going to be moving forward. We have hurricane plans right? So now apparently we need #pandemic plans, or whatever the next curveball will be. We should assume there will be one.
2.)Someone in your household has no doubt been affected by a job change, and it’s shaking things up.
Whether you or someone else in your house has been #furloughed, #laid-off, or forced to take on a new dynamic of #workingremote, your career is never going to be the same. The job hunt for those affected has been #harsh, but key learning this year is the importance of diversifying your skillset and having the ability and the hustle to juggle a few balls in the air at once vs having all your eggs in one basket. Maybe 2021 is the time to explore #monetizing a #sidehustle, or maybe it’s time to create a bucket list of training programs you’ve put off. Every single time you learn something new, your resume expands and you’ve diversified yourself. Don’t be afraid to go a little rogue, and take a class or get a certification in something outside your primary career. You will most likely need it one day.
3.) Our children need stability, structure and a routine they can depend on again
How confusing these past 10-11 months must have been for our children. There is no age that had it easier. The high school kids were in many ways jipped of their final adolescent, carefree days, that typically help shape us and are referred to for the rest of our lives. And the little ones that are supposed to be learning what it feels like to have stability, have been ping-ponged around in so many different directions that they probably have no clue what’s normal anymore, much less what a schedule is. So maybe the resolutions in your house are to open the lines of communication more, talk about and reinforce what a new schedule looks like, and your #newnormal. Commit to being proactive about what’s happening vs the reactive mode we’ve been in for so many months. We should know enough now about living during a pandemic era, and the possible turns things could take, to shape up a plan that works for our lifestyles. The more we can anticipate, the better off our children will be. If nothing else, let them see you trying so they understand the levity.
4.) Your relationships are hopefully the strongest they’ve ever been
One of the most positive aspects of the pandemic is how it has connected and reconnected people. We’ve spent more time with our immediate families due to quarantine, allowing us to understand each other better. We’ve had highs and lows with one another, allowing the layers of our relationships to strengthen. We’ve learned who’s really on our team, and who is not. We’ve found or built, communities that are focused on helping others #thrive. We’ve learned how to appreciate one another in new ways, we’ve spent more time with our children, and we’ve taken the time to find humor in the #quarantine woes with our friends while the group texts have overrun our phones. Let's keep this going. The need for a #culture fueled by #community is so important right now. We can be stripped of our material things, our jobs, our financial security, but nothing can take away our relationships. So while they are at an all-time high, think about ways to continue to nurture them.
5.) Your physical and mental health has been put through the wringer
Let’s be honest, most of us started out the quarantine putting a major emphasis on #personalgrowth, especially those of us that lost our jobs and finally had the time to for #selfdiscovery. However as the theory goes, it takes 21 days to master a new habit. This pandemic has clearly been more than 21 days, so how many BAD habits have you now created for yourself that need to be undone? It’s been easy to settle into an unhealthy routine that no longer puts ourselves first. We’ve eaten, and probably drank #allthethings we can get our hands-on, and have continued to allow #bingewatching Netflix go on way too long. Can you believe how long ago the Tiger King moment was? In a way, this whole “time off” mentality we tried to embrace early on in 2020 was in some ways welcome. In some ways healthy, especially for our mindsets. We were living for the moment, and IN the moment, treating ourselves to little perks we never allowed ourselves the time for prior. But now as many of us are digging out of the #unemployment debacle, it’s time to re-establish our personal goals and start #curating a healthy balance of how we want to live like a #redefined person. It’s time to really process the key learnings from the year. What did you discover about yourself? How will you apply what you’ve learned and realized, to a lifestyle that is changing?
The need for settling on a New Year’s resolution is so much heavier this year. Everyone is so anxious and excited to officially say that #2020 is finally over, however simply watching a ball drop and seeing the clock hit midnight doesn’t mean 2021 is going to be different. We have to commit to making it different. We need to truly think about what the key learnings have been, and layout a game plan for taking control of our lives and the circumstances we are in.
HAPPY NEW YEAR
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