I hate New Year’s Eve. No, wait. What I really hate is how the holiday has become entwined with New Year’s resolutions. At a moment when we should be appreciating the year that was and getting excited about the year that will be, we are instead plunged into a morass of “shoulda, coulda, wouldas” as we vow to do better in the year ahead.
- Not to eat as much sugar, gluten, chocolate, French fries, or chug as much Prosecco.
- Not to be so lump-like and inert and get our butts to yoga (or Pilates, you choose).
- Not to stick at the some-old job and finally do that passion project.
- Not to be as sharp and short-tempered with those around us.
- And the list goes on.
The motivation may be fine, but to me, it’s all a lot of self-flagellation and blame for being eff-ups last year, and besides, it doesn’t work! According to U.S. News, approximately 80 percent of resolutions fail by the second week of February.
So this year, please join me in a little re-branding of resolutions. Let’s steal a page from social media and call them #goals. #NewYearsGoals. Doesn’t that sound more inspiring already?
My goals are to entertain whenever the opportunity appears; to see a friend every week or so (a quick coffee is fine, even if I need to travel a bit to get there); to do flexibility exercises…and to be a little more forgiving of word choices and grammar usage.
How about you? Are you all aboard the resolutions train, or are you against setting yourself up for failure and setting #goals? Share how you plan to inspire yourself in the new year with NextTribe below.
