New Year, New You

And why we do it…

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you’ve probably heard this phrase once, at the very least. New year’s resolutions. A new beginning. A fresh start. These are all things that we associate with the new year. These are all things that we think of as being good things to do.

To some extent, I can understand, and I can honestly say that I don’t know of one person who hasn’t set at least one goal this year. I know I have. I refuse to call mine resolutions, though. I’ve found that in the past, if I call something a resolution, then it is the quickest way for me to give up when I come up against the first hurdle.

Instead, I prefer to set goals, which I will work on for the next year. I know it’s effectively pretty much the same thing, but for some reason, goals work better for me than resolutions. I think maybe it’s the fact that a resolution is so synonymous with New Year’s. I sort of feel that if I’m not working at that resolution every day from the first of January, then I may as well not bother, whereas if I’m working at a goal, then it is about crossing the finish line by the end of the year, rather than the starting point itself.

The thing is, we as humans are always seeking to better ourselves, and that can be a good thing and a bad thing. I can almost see you shaking your heads, wondering what I mean by it being a bad thing… what I mean is that some of us will set goals (or resolutions, or whatever you choose to call them) that are both unrealistic and unreachable, and that isn’t a good thing, because we set ourselves up, right at the start, for failure.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, I understand the need to set goals, and agree wholeheartedly with trying to better myself, but this year, unlike those that have been, I am striving to not set goals that are unattainable, because the quickest way to fail is when you set yourself up to do so.

So, by all means, set goals, and make resolutions, but please, make them attainable, because to do otherwise will only serve to make you beat yourself up when you cannot reach that unreachable goal.