Personally, I don’t believe that December 31st ever feels any different than January 1st. I don’t need a nationally, or internationally, recognized milestone to make a lifestyle change when I realize that something isn’t working. I’ve learned, though, when the New Year comes around, everyone starts to make New Years Resolutions. When I was younger, I made enough of these to count on two hands. I can’t say that I remember actually completing any of them. At some point during college I decided that I would set sweeping New Years Goals, instead of common New Years Resolutions.
I agree with this article from Forbes Magazine: keep it simple, keep it tangible, and keep believing you can do it. These are goals that I will try to accomplish at any point during the calendar year. Nothing too lofty, because of course I like I to look back and see that I accomplished them. They are things that can take a month or two, sometimes less, and sometimes more, but I am usually pretty proud when I accomplish one. Some of my past goals from the past 2-3 years or so have been:
- Cook more often (accomplished)
- Cook HEALTHIER (accomplished)
- Drive less, to use less gas (not accomplished)
- Solidify the bonds with my (high-school) friends from my ‘home’ of Fredericksburg, since I don’t live there as often anymore (accomplished)
- Get a pet (accomplished)
- Sleep more (accomplished)
- Hit the gym and regain my four pack (accomplished…and then un-accomplished)
And so, my goals for 2013 are:
- The first one is going to be the most difficult: Facebook LESS. While I am a ginormous proponet of using social media and this very blog to connect friends with friends and me with strangers (just friends-I-haven’t-met-yet), sometimes I find myself checking my Facebook when in the real world. This is one of the things I’d like to cut back on.
- Achieve a healthier lifestyle – this includes drinking alcohol with even more moderation and making more healthy eating decisions with more frequency
- Re-achieve and continue a healthy, sustainable, fruitful relationship with (if you ever read my blog) you know who, and reflect together on the positives that have come from recent challenges
- Cement plans for summer 2013 through a practicum internship that is exactly the experience I’ve intended to craft
- Drive less, to use less gas
- Continue to spread the message of Actively Caring for People as far and wide as possible
- Continue to create a steady networking foundation through conferences, both inside and outside of my field
- Try to hit snooze aLOT less often – let’s say only 2 days out of the week.
I do believe that if you make something public then it makes you that much more accountable, hence this post. My ultimate goal is to DO one of these each day…baby steps. For further reading, I’d suggest this article on the science of New Year’s Resolutions.
Good luck with your own New Year’s Resolutions Goals! If you haven’t already come up with your own, reference these ideas that I always try to keep in mind daily: (thanks to Brittany’s blog, More Than a Ritual, for these appropriate quotes from her blog about her goals for 2013)
