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New Year, New You

We’re going to start off this fresh new year with another of the Virtues of Christmas. Each new year offers an opportunity to do things differently and hopefully better than before.

Resolution

Resolution. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
~Benjamin Franklin

There’s nothing more commonly associated with the new year than New Year’s Resolutions. Every year, we plan to change some aspect of our life where we’ve been remiss.

The big hang-up is not so much making plans, but rather sticking to them. In some cases, people pick resolutions that are just impossible to achieve. This can be self-sabotage or they might just have unrealistic expectations of themselves.

So many people set truly achievable goals but don’t keep up with them. Part of making a resolution is actually resolving to carry it through. In our modern times when our focus is so easily scattered, people make plans and then abandon them almost as soon as they’ve left their mouths.

The best way to set achievable goals and stick to them is to break them out into measurable and achievable steps. Setting mini-goals for each month, week and even down to each day is an excellent way to ensure that you can carry through on your New Year’s Resolutions. Successfully executing a series of small, achievable tasks leads to the enjoyment of the journey and completion of the quest.

For me, planning involves Remember The Milk. I’ve subscribed to this service for a couple of years now and I find it very helpful to keep me on track. You can set up daily notification emails and pop-up messages on your smart devices. There’s a certain pleasure in being able to tick off tasks as you complete them.

New Year

Apart from resolutions, in my neck of the woods, you’ll find that the new year starts with pork and sauerkraut. Every country and region has its own traditions. However you celebrate the new year, I hope you’re having a great time with friends and family today.

We’re going to be visiting family for our traditional New Year’s feast. Should be an interesting trip.

If you’re going to be traveling today to visit family, please be careful. New Year’s Day is known for having more than its fair share of fatal traffic accidents. Some people may have been drinking into the wee small hours and will be driving home in an impaired state.

New You

There are a few basic areas where you can improve in the coming year:

• Physical:
  In the realm of physical improvements, we could choose to work on:
  • Getting more fit or remembering to exercise on a regular basis
  • Losing weight or eating healthier food
  • Breaking harmful physical dependencies such as smoking or alcohol
• Mental:
  In the realm of mental improvements, we might decide to:
  • Keep a positive mental attitude or practice mindfulness to appreciate what we have
  • Learn new skills for our career or for our personal enjoyment
  • Breaking harmful mental habits such as procrastinating or being a perfectionist
• Emotional:
  In the area of emotional improvements, we’d be much better off if we:
  • Keep in touch with family and friends for mutual benefit
  • Cultivate an intimate personal relationship with our spouse or find someone to become intimate with
  • Break harmful emotional habits such as being angry with or envious of others

It’s up to you to decide which path to take this year. Whichever direction you choose to go, go with resolution and lay specific plans that you can follow through to completion. I wish you the very best success in pursuing your goals.