I spent the holiday season reevaluating my priorities and promising myself I would meet 2024 with the best I had to offer. I pondered the idea of resolutions. Do I have one this year? Do I need one? And, why do resolutions ultimately make us feel, well…bad?
After much internal debate, I decided that any resolution I ever made lasted 23 days, max. I further reflected on my prior resolutions and determined that not one of them ever made me feel good. So why do we make New Year’s Resolutions?
I think we look at a new year as a clean slate where the angel on one shoulder overcomes the devil with a pitchfork on the other. That New Year/New You vibe is really soul crushing because we do not transform into another being come midnight on December 31. Changes and improvements take hard work and a strong desire for success.
I have decided resolutions are born by our realization that something is off in our daily routines. We know there are areas in our lives that need to be cleaned up for us to live a productive and fulfilling life.
I went down a rabbit hole for sure and came out thinking about SOLUTIONS. When something is broken, we fix it. We dig deep and find a solution to the problem. It is not hard to argue that resolutions stem from an area in our lives that requires attention. However, when we break a resolution, we feel bad instead of being proud of the fact that we were working toward a new goal.
So, instead of focusing on the limiting nature and punishment of a resolution, why not just find a positive solution?
January is over but we have 11 months to find solutions for the things we want to change or make better in our lives. Solutions have a positive impact because we find a “new” way and simply implement it.
Who is ready to start putting positive energy into change? Little steps ultimately have a big impact! What is your first solution?
