This year, I’m forgetting New Year’s resolutions and not choosing a word of the year. Instead, I’m owning each day of 2019 and pushing forward.
Happy New Year! There are 365 fresh, new days ahead of us! Every year, I make my list of goals and resolutions. I choose a word to guide me throughout the year. But by the end of last year, I fell short on some of my goals and totally forgot what my word of the year even was (by the way, it was persevere – thank you, blog)!
So this year, I’m playing it different. I’m not choosing a word. I’m not even setting any goals! Yup! You read that right! Nothing! Nada! I’m going with the flow in 2019.
Here’s the thing – I think we put way too much pressure on ourselves at the beginning of a new year. What starts off as positive thinking can land us in a whole pile of sh…..negativity. Let’s look back at previous years. If you’ve achieved everything on your list of goals and resolutions, then congratulations. You must be superhuman with willpower of steel. For the rest of us, we slip and slide along the way. We’re human. It happens. But I shouldn’t have to rely on a single word or a list of resolutions to keep me accountable for my actions during the course of the year.
It’s not all bad, it’s just not for me
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not knocking New Year traditions. If making goals and resolutions works for you, or if you want to focus on a word to set the theme of your year, go for it. But it just isn’t working for me anymore. When I sit down and reevaluate my year, I don’t want to feel disappointed or like a failure for not meeting certain goals. In fact, no one should feel like that. We get such a big, clean slate every year that allows us to make progress and work on ourselves. However, we shouldn’t limit ourselves to just 12 months and a single word. Wake up every day and own it!
Like I said earlier in this post, I had completely forgotten what my word for 2018 even was! I had to search my blog for it! Did I persevere? I mean, I guess so. Did I have goals that I set out to achieve this past year? I’m sure I did.
- I definitely read more books than I did last year. 12 might not seem like many, but it was probably more than double what I read in 2017. Plus, I started a new mystery series that I’m really enjoying.
- I was hoping to become more of a saver than a spender. That didn’t work out so well.
- I lost some weight….and then gained some of it back. The struggle is real, but my pants still fit.
- And speaking of struggles, I still struggled with my inner demons, but I learned from the breakdowns and loved harder than I’ve ever loved before.
Keep moving forward
Instead of making my mental list of things I want to achieve this year, I’m going to give myself a break and just keep moving forward. Sure, I still want to achieve a few things this year, but the goals aren’t going to be hanging over my head. One of my goals last year was to simplify my life. I’m still working on it, but I feel like this is just another way to achieve the simplicity that I want in life.
This year, let’s try to banish toxic thinking and negativity no matter how we choose to embrace the New Year. Make those resolutions if you want or pick a perfect word. Or don’t! Just remember to keep moving forward no matter what life throws at you this year. Most importantly, don’t beat yourself up if you get bumped off track from your goals.
