At the beginning of this year I
made a series of New Years Resolutions, much like I do every year. Unlike years in the past, this time I was
determined to follow through with them.
With my resolutions for 2014 I had set the bar high, but not out of reach. However, while pursuing these changes in my
life I’ve stumbled upon other things in my life that need to be taken care of
first. And so, now almost two months in
to the year, my New Years Resolutions have changed. I’ve dropped some of them entirely while
others I’m simply postponing. Meanwhile
I’ve found new determination to make the changes that I need in my life.
This brings me to my point. Why do we tend to only make resolutions to
better our lives at the beginning of the year?
Why should a solar cycle have any effect on our will to improve our lot
in life? In my experience, when I make a
New Years Resolution and attempt to rigidly stick to it, I tend to fall short
and give up.
Change is, by nature, fluid. If I wish to change myself in any way, then
my first step is perhaps to break away from the idea that January first is the
perfect day to decide what needs to be done.
If I wish to improve myself then I need to be open to the fluidity of
change and allow my resolutions to change with me throughout my life rather
than adhering to the time-honored tradition of making a New Years Resolution,
failing to achieve it, then waiting until next January to make another.
So, I now have personal goals, but
would I call them resolutions? Probably
not. That word, resolution, has such a
solid and final feel to it, as if you can either achieve it or not and there is
no middle ground. Let’s face it, I’ve
never done well with definitive pass/fail scenarios, I like to have some wiggle
room. So while I may be dropping some of
my resolutions and changing others, the fact remains that this will be a year
of self-improvement for me.
On that note, since writing more
and continuing this blog was one of my resolutions, this post may imply that
there will be few posts in the future.
Rest assured, that’s not the case.
While the pace has slowed a bit, I’m writing more than I have in a long
time and actually stock piling half-written blog posts. So later in the year the pace will pick up
drastically. Hooray!
