As the year comes to a wrap, I want to remind you to live every day with intention and ‘deliberateness’. Do not be passive in your actions, and do not wait for a vague day in the future when you’re magically going to get up and do/start the things you’ve always wanted to do. And definitely do not wait for the New Year to give you an excuse to make a big change in your life.
New Year resolutions can be fun and motivating as they give us a chance to be reflective and make big plans on what we’re going to do in the coming year. But New Year resolutions also rarely mean much after a few weeks or days. We all know how the tale ends. They are hardly kept.
A few years ago, I stopped feeling the need to make New Year resolutions. And my inherent cynicism wasn’t the only reason. I stopped having the need to participate in the grand gesture of making New Year’s resolutions because I was already spending every day working towards the things that I wanted. When I started to live each day with intention and when I spent each day working toward my goals, I realized that the dawn of a New Year did not spark a need to make a new or big change in my life.
Real change often comes in a small and incremental fashion. They say “how you live your days is how you live your life”. Your day-to-day should be equally important and significant. Spend every day working toward your goals. My friend Daniela says “You don’t need the New Year to give you permission to work on yourself”.
So instead of making big promises to yourself without any plans to keep them, take steps—starting today—to live your life in the fashion you desire. Make every decision with intention, invest time in the things and relationships that matter, and be deliberate in all your actions. When you do this, the New Year won’t bring any anxieties or feelings of inadequacy. It’ll just be another day that happens to include festivities, time with family and loved ones, and delicious foods and drinks. That sounds like a good deal to me!
Stay focused and whatever you do, don’t lose control of who you are. HAPPY NEW YEAR!
