It has finally snowed here. Until a few days ago the only white on the ground was a hard frost. This did have its perks: the ease of cleaning the yard, but it did not feel like winter, or Christmas. We’d had a foot-or-so of snow over a couple days—which still isn’t much, but it is something. But now with the blanket of white on the ground and in the trees, it is starting to feel like the season, thankfully, as it is just around the corner.
Something that inevitably comes up this time of year is new years’ resolutions, or “what is yours this year?” I am asked this countless times, and the reality is I never make a resolution.
It isn’t that I disagree with them. I think if making one helps your motivation to make a change then that is great. But, for me, it feels too superficial. I make changes throughout the year as I want to and need to. I don’t necessarily have something that I want to change come this time of year and trying to force one feels disingenuous.
So, while some years I have decided to make changes around this time of year or set new goals for myself, these are not “new year’s resolutions” they are simply resolutions that happen to be taking place at the same time as the calendar change.
One year I had decided I should try making a New Year’s resolution, but, like so many others, because I had to create one that wasn’t really true to me, I never followed through with it. My heart wasn’t in it. If I’m not fully committed to it then I will find so many ways to procrastinate. Which leads to feeling guilty for letting it slide, and self-criticism and annoyance because I didn’t follow through with something—something that I didn’t really want in the first place.
As you go into the holiday season it is a great time to reflect, to look at what you accomplished in the past year and consider what you hope to accomplish in the coming year. To set new goals and to recharge over the break. Maybe there is something you have been wanting to change, maybe it is a job, a habit, or a relationship –but make these changes for you when you’re ready, you don’t need to start as of January 1st for them to be substantial.
So, this season, I encourage you to take the time to recharge. Whether that is with family or just enjoying fewer work/school emails coming in. Whether you celebrate the holiday or not, take some of this downtime and enjoy yourself. Reflect on where you have come and where you want to go. Catch up on some of those things you have been putting off, and don’t put pressure on yourself to make a big change come the first.
