As the new year approaches, gain a new perspective on how to make the most of your New Year's resolution.
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Welcome to the Be Your Best Self Blog by Marsha Abbott.
Are You in Panic Mode?
It’s a new year! Can you believe it!?! 2022 is officially starting and guess what time it finally is? It’s time to talk about that one topic many of us will try to avoid…New Year’s Resolutions. I am not sure if these three words inspire me or if instead, just scare the life out of me. Because frankly, when those three words are uttered…I typically just freeze in my tracks and think, “Now what?”
This time of year almost always sends me into panic mode wondering if I should, in fact, have a new year’s resolution…or if I should just forget that it ever crossed my mind? And if I do want one then what in the world should it be? And will it be something I stick with for a total of five minutes in 2022, or can I actually find something useful that will encourage me to grow as a person in order to be my best self?
So many questions…I am starting to panic…
So I decided this time and this year, with this idea of new year’s resolutions, is going to be different. And I am going to approach this differently than any year before. Because I do believe it is important to reflect on our character in order to learn and become better in this world, but I am ready to find a useful resolution that will last all year through.
Are any of you with me on this one? Do you struggle with this too but still wish you could incorporate something helpful to better yourself and your life? Are you also in panic mode right now thinking of what should change in 2022?
If you said yes to any of these questions then grab ahold of my hand, and let’s walk on this journey together as we navigate these three scary words…New Year’s Resolutions.
Let’s start with the easiest part. We need to define what a new year’s resolution really is. Because you see, we can’t start on a journey until we first understand where in the heck we are trying to go. So I did what any good researcher would do…I googled it. And I found out that a New Year’s Resolution, according to Wikipedia, is defined as ‘a tradition in which a person resolves to continue good practices, change an undesired trait or behavior, accomplish a personal goal, or otherwise improve their life at the start of a new year.’
It’s a long definition but reading this immediately puts me at ease. We often think new year’s resolutions should be a point in time where we make dramatic changes in our life. And when we try to change that fast, usually failure follows. But the good news…resolutions don’t have to be about making changes. Sometimes a resolution is just taking a good habit you have and making a promise to yourself to keep doing it into the next year. Maybe it’s things like continuing your ability to make people laugh, or carrying forward your workout routine, or having dinner with your parents every Sunday night. We don’t always have to be panicked thinking we need to change our life completely. We all have good qualities and habits that we utilize every single day, and there is nothing wrong with working hard to be intentional in carrying those traits forward into the new year.
But sometimes, when our life is calling us in a different direction, a new year’s resolution will be there to help us truly make an adjustment. To change some things we are not happy with in our life or to start a positive trend that has been long overdue. It could be things like starting to eat healthier, or to finally quit smoking, or even getting out of a toxic relationship. These resolutions will tend to be more difficult to accomplish, but the harder the challenge the more impactful it will be in our life.
So the second step of this journey is a little harder. It’s making a decision as to what we will continue to do or what we will stop doing in our life as this new year starts. I believe the key to a new year’s resolution is to find one thing and only one that you will make a conscious effort to keep top of mind all year long. So think about your life…right now…in this moment. What needs to change? What should stay the same? Have you thought of a resolution yet? Or are you still in panic mode?
If you are still struggling, then just know that I was too. I just wasn’t sure what I wanted to alter in order to create a better life for myself and for those in my life. But then I realized that the more pressure I put on, the more I wanted to freeze and do nothing. So I decided to let life happen for a few weeks and see if something would just hit me. And guess what….it did. If you can’t find a resolution of your own, then maybe mine will be the change that you too were looking for in your life. Maybe this blog is your sign. Maybe this will be something that speaks to your heart just like it did mine…
And here is how I came across it…
Recently, my husband and I had a few hours to kill before the kids were coming home, so he had a great idea to watch an old classic movie of our generation, “The Crow” written by David Schow and John Shirley that features actor, Brandon Lee. And this movie…I love it so much! I always have! Not only is it the last movie Brandon Lee starred in as he was unexpectedly shot and killed on set, but it is also a movie where he played Eric Draven who dies and comes back to life to rectify the terrible situation that killed him. And as he has flashbacks to the wonderful life that was stolen from him and his fiancé Shelly, he makes a statement to his friend that is so significant. In fact, I think it is the most important line in the whole movie, and it’s the part where I finally realized what I wanted to change in 2022.
Eric looks at his friend and says the following…
“Little things used to mean so much to Shelly. I used to think they were kind of…trivial. Believe me, nothing is trivial.”
And it was that sentence that spoke directly to my heart. Nothing really is trivial. Nothing in our life is everinsignificant. Not the smiles we bring to others, not the dinners we get to have with our parents, not the moments when our family watches movies together, not the ability to work, not our good health, not our food in our belly, not our roof over our heads. None of it is trivial or insignificant, and many times I go through life forgetting that. Forgetting how significant it really is to have even some of the small pleasures in life. Some of the small pleasures that we take for granted and that others in this world would do anything to have. We tend to overlook these things…we tend to take it all as a given…until someday it isn’t anymore. And it’s usually at that moment when we finally realize what we did have. I am no longer going to wait for that day…I am going to choose to remember now.
So if you are with me on this then let’s make a pack to do this together. As you climb into bed each and every night, make sure you have a journal next to you, and let’s write down three small pleasures that we had the privilege to experience that day. Then let’s take a moment and reflect on these three things to remind us of all that we have in our life to be grateful for. Let it be a reminder that even the smallest things in life should never be taken for granted…should never be thought of as trivial. Let’s choose to live 2022 just like this and close out each day with a note of positivity to reaffirm the amazing life we have been given.
And so as I wrap up this blog and as we head into 2022, I have to say…New Year’s Resolutions…well those three words no longer scare me. I am no longer in panic mode because I know just what I want to change this next year. I am going to take that advice from Eric Draven and from one of my all-time favorite movies. I am going to choose to remember that nothing…no matter how small it may seem…is ever trivial in life. So if this resolution spoke to your heart too, lets fill up our favorite journal…and then let the fun part happen…sit back and watch how it ends up changing our life.
*For those of you struggling with something in life or have a topic of interest that you want me to talk about in this blog, email me at BeYourBestSelfBlog@gmail.com.
*For resources to this blog, please see my written blog at www.beyourbestselfblog.com. Let’s work together to Be Our Best Selves!