New Year's Resolutions Check-In
Many years ago, I made a list of resolutions. It was a long list. I was feeling rather adventurous and was determined to cross off my goals. I was going to learn a new language, work out every day and a few other lofty ideas. A few months later, they were abandoned, a lost cause, forgotten in the wind.
New Years Resolutions.
They are the catalysts that sends people to the gym for a few weeks, blending up smoothies til March and scrolling through online travel websites at 2 am in order to hopefully scratch off bucket list spots. Sadly they get a bad rap because they don’t last very long. And many of us avoid them altogether in order to avoid disappointment.
I now know a missing piece to my lovely list of resolutions. I didn’t take a time to truly evaluate where I currently was and jumped too far ahead of the line. I neglected to list my progresses in the past, a sort of past year review, and now that I’ve made these changes, it makes all the difference.
Taking a moment within the year is a great way to evaluate your progress and where you want to be. Whether it’s January 1st, March 24th or your birthday, it doesn’t matter when it happens, just pick a date (or many) to take a look at the parts of your life that are serving you, and those that aren’t.
Take a look at your life and the parts that you wish to improve and create goals from there. Review the last year and notice ways in which you grew, struggled and found joy. It’s far too easy to overlook our growth and automatically think that we haven’t changed and use that as an excuse to fall back into our poor self-care ways.
Think back on the year and note and progresses or challenges made in the following areas:
1) Health
a. I have grown in the following ways:
b. These were my health struggles:
c. This is how I want to approach the new year:
2) Career and Finances
a. I have grown in the following ways:
b. These were my career and financial struggles:
c. This is how I want to approach the new year:
3) Relationships
a. I have grown in the following ways:
b. These were my relationship struggles:
c. This is how I want to approach the new year:
4) Self Care:
a. I have grown in the following ways:
b. These were my self-care struggles:
c. This is how I want to approach the new year:
5) Other
a. I have grown in the following ways:
b. These were my ______ struggles:
c. This is how I want to approach the new year:
Whenever you are trying to make a change, it’s important to remember the positive steps you have actually made. This will help boost your morale, help keep you on track and give you a marker to review when you lose that January 1st post champagne toast gusto.
Happy new year, y’all!