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After Christmas passes everyone quickly switches gears and begins to prep for the New Year. And what says New Year’s Eve than fireworks, party hats, and… resolutions! A new Year means a new beginning, a new you right? This hope never seems to come true. Every New Year’s I make a list of the things that I want to stop, improve or change but, the exact same thing happens every year. Goals are made, but never met and motivation is at its peak but only for the span of a few weeks and it all continues in a vicious cycle.
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Well an obvious way to think about the situation is to take action. To do what I wrote on my resolution list and get her done. That “I’m going to go from getting only 3 hours of sleep to automatically getting 8 hours of sleep every night from now on” or that “I’m going to get super fit and healthy really quickly when all I have been doing for years is eating unhealthy and siting all day.” Saying these goals out loud sounds silly and most people will think, “well that’s not what I think I say that I want to…” , but unless you are very productive in your life or your goals are to take out the trash more than once a week or go out for a run this Saturday, they are not very realistic. How can we except to go from 0 to 100 in such a small time period? Trying to change habits from one day to another is like climbing a mountain without ever having trained.
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The problem with this view is that because we set unrealistic and (in the time that we want to be able to do it) unattainable goals we are more likely to fail in succeeding and this can be detrimental to our mental health. If we fail to obtain our goals we will see it as an issue that was our fault and take it out on ourselves rather than realizing the extremities we were trying to push through and in response learn from the experience.
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A better way to look at the idea of becoming a new person is to realize and understand that change demands work and determination, but is still very possible and doable. The greatest athletes did not get to where they are by giving up when practice was difficult. Celebrities did not reach their status by accepting failure. Even nature did not obtain its beauty overnight, it evolved over the course of thousands of years to get to its glory today. Change will take more than just one go, but to see your goals through you must take as many go’s as needed. Start small don’t over-complicate it for yourself. You want to become organized then sit down and start a list of items you own, jot down supplies you will need for the job, ask others for help to have encouragement, physically clean your room and look through your belongings, hold yourself accountable by having some sort of reward system, treat yourself once in a while and remind yourself how much your realistic future self will love you. Now go out and make your New Year resolutions for 2019 and remember stay realistic and start small! I wish you the best of luck.
If you need some resolution ideas to inspire or challenge you, here are a few simple resolutions provided by the lovely Lavendaire:
- Explore a hobby: Everyone is creative.
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Don’t seek to be the best artist in the world, but instead seek a way to feed your creative soul. Learn to play an instrument of any kind, maracas, drums, anything! Get into the habit of writing your moods, write poems, learn to paint. Pursue whatever it is that will be your go to when you’ve had a rough day or do when you want to have some fun.
- Break bad habits: Make a list of all the habits that you want to change and then tackle them one by one. Don’t bombard yourself and try to fix all of them all at once. Tell friends to hold you accountable. Create punishments for yourself so that if you don’t follow through you can’t watch that Netflix episode and hopefully learn from your mistake.
- Read 5-10 pages a day: If you want to get more reading done in the year to come, base your goal on reading 10 pages a day rather than the number of books to read to make the task feel less overwhelming. Slow it done and break it up.
- Try listening to Audio books: If you can’t make the time to sit down to read or you lack the motivation to crack open a book but its still a goal of yours to go through more books than last year then tune in to an audio book. You can listen to it while you commute, or while you’re on a jog. It’s easy and a step towards a goal. Check this out → free audible trial (audiobooks) | http://audibletrial.com/lavendaire
- Try something you have been wanting to do: Think of something
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that you have been wanting to do for a while no matter how crazy and google search ways to make it happen. You’ve always wanted to go to a beach island for vacation…rock out at your favorite band’s concert… or go sky diving….then research and make it possible. All you need is a push to start.
- Take control of your fiances: Make a 5 month safety net of money that will cover your expenses by slowly putting some money aside. If you are unemployed then mow the lawn for a neighbor, babysit, tutor, etc. Do something that will give you a source of money. Create a system in which taking money out from your net is not easy to avoid temptation. Think smart and place your money where it will benefit you the most. Check this out→ how to start investing | http://bit.ly/2BLT6JE
- Invest in yourself: Spend money on things that are more than just for consumption. If you are a photographer buy a better camera or if you are an athlete, better equipment.
- Declutter your closet or space: Split your room into sections and work your way through them. Make a list of weekly tasks and sort out through items and donate some. Check this out→ playlist: decluttering your life | http://bit.ly/2BPpBqs
- Plan an artist day: Pick a day where you take yourself out on a date and have fun. Treat yourself. Check this out→ “artist date” is from The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron | http://amzn.to/2kQ06L7
- Reconnect with an old friend: Don’t attempt to
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catch up with all the people you’ve left behind in the years but instead start by rekindling your connection with a friend and bringing them back into your life. You will feel more connected to others and be more likely to have greater emotional and mental stability.
- Redecorate your space: You’ve been wanting that bean bag for so long. Buy it! Make your space new and don’t wait around for the perfect time because the perfect time is now!
- Volunteer: Seek out non-profit organizations that you will enjoy being apart of to give yourself a sense of community.
- Try stream of consciousness journaling for a week:
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Learning to write down your exact thoughts onto paper will help you clearly see your goals and increase your chances of accomplishing them. Check this out→ how to: stream of consciousness journaling | http://bit.ly/2BnJ7uw
There are many other things that you can do as your New Year’s resolutions that will fit you better according to your lifestyle or preference but remember to seek out improvement of character and not replacement of character. Like always thank you so much if you read through this. I wish you a happy New Year’s and until next time!
The Tea Sis 