New year’s resolutions are GOOD for us! I love the start of a New Year. For me it’s a time to wipe the slate clean, erase any bad habits or feelings that have affected us during the past year, and start a fresh with new found confidence, vigour, enthusiasm and belief.
Many people can seem to be quite negative when it comes to making new year’s resolutions. Why is this? Because we are all doomed to fail? Maybe overcommitting isn’t such a bad thing. If you overcommit, of course you wont succeed with all of your plans. Ultimately, you just want to find a few good habits to stick with so you can be healthier long-term.
We’re all busy, but have you noticed that anyone can make time for something that they really want to do? So if you are finding yourself all sorts of excuses, stop and think about the rewards from a few life changes. I personally think one way (maybe the only way) is to overdo it for a bit.
Approach this new year as an opportunity to commit 100 per cent to something you’re a little uncomfortable with and unaccustomed to such as:
• Deciding you want to try that interesting restrictive diet everyone’s raving about.
• Choosing to go for a run every single day because you’d like to move more and be in the fresh air daily whatever the weather.
• Take up a dance class or sign yourself up for a fitness challenge for charity.
• Enrol at a university to study something new.
• Try different types of meditation because you keep reading how it will change your life.
Maybe, you could tell yourself its only temporary, to take the pressure off. You could commit to the first three months of the year and see what happens. You may not stay on the healthy eating 24/7, run an ultra-marathon, or be on the next show of strictly.
You may not become a university lecturer or a Buddhist monk, but you’ll almost certainly become aware of meals you enjoy and how much more energy you have because you are exercising more.
You may discover you’re a better partner or friend after just a few minutes of mindfulness, and you may just respond differently to the life challenges you face because you feel great and more in control.
The New Year is a fabulous time for reflecting on the year that’s gone by and then push forward, start from scratch, and reinvent ourselves. Every chance to step back and potentially commit to making a change is a great one.
My thoughts are, that by going all in to start, you might just end up with a few healthy habits that work their way into your life for good.
