Sigh… New Year Resolutions
So, did you make some new year resolutions?
I did not. I don’t believe in them - change doesn’t happen overnight. Change takes time, discipline, and serious effort. Most people can’t make even one, lasting change yet most people make long, long lists of things to change overnight.
What would be a more impactful and lasting way to enhance or modify your life and the lives of those you care deeply about? How about actual behavior change that has a lasting impact… that sounds much better to me than new year resolutions.
Take Time to Reflect
It is actually really easy for people to look forward when creating goals than to look into the past. The past holds many lessons learned that are crucial to reflect on and consider when looking toward the future. It is also much better to consistently look at the your life more often than once per year but you know… it’s just an idea.
Some ideas on what to reflect on:
Your health choices - or maybe lack of health choices
How you spend or save your money
Your relationships with friends, family, and work colleagues
Where you find joy
What you might be afraid of trying or doing but have interest in pursuing
How you want your family unit to operate
Identify What is Realistic
After you’ve taken time to reflect, then you need to have a conversation with yourself about what is actually important to you vs. what just sounds good.
I’ll give you an example of what is important to me and how I’m prioritizing it. Modifying my health habits has been an ongoing commitment for me for years. I eat a lot. I eat often. I enjoy great food. I also enjoy indulging and splurging when I go out to run errands - I have a habit that I’m trying to change. Instead of stopping at Starbucks to get a coffee when I’m running errands, I just go home and make a coffee myself. Sounds so simple and straightforward right?
Well… I don’t know how to make a latte at home. I don’t have the correct coffee maker at home to make my own. I don’t know what type of flavor I would like to have for my coffee that I’m making at home. These are all realistic roadblocks in my way to being able to achieve my health goal. I rationally know that it would be way less expensive, it is much healthier, and is more convenient by having coffee in my own house.
Here is what I did to make this a realistic modification to my health habits:
I bought a simple, espresso maker - CASABREWS
I decided on making one flavor or espresso - vanilla with local honey and cinnamon
I picked the highest quality milk that I enjoyed - Fairlife (it’s delicious)
I started one morning and have kept going for almost 8 weeks.
My husband saw me commit to it and got me an amazing coffee recipe book
I’m not perfect at this, I do still occasionally stop at Starbucks to get a coffee. It is significantly less than what it was before. This change though has been a big adjustment for me. I view myself as being successful with this because I’ve formed a new habit. I’m also not beating myself up if I do get a coffee from Starbucks because most of the time, I’m making a really good coffee at home. That’s realistic and that’s good enough for me. I was successful because I was realistic about the change I wanted to make, I figured out the roadblocks in my way, and I went forward and tackled them to commit to the change in my behavior.
This is just one example of a behavior modification that I’ve committed to. Depending on what you view as a priority, you’ll have to make the same conscious and intentional choices to commit to the changes you want to make. I recommend starting small and do one thing at a time to actually make and maintain the behavior changes.
Commit
Find the discipline in yourself to commit to the change you want to see. If you are telling yourself that you need to lose weight, or to exercise, or to stop eating gluten, or to call your friends instead of text them, or to stop yelling at your child when you are upset, or whatever… find it in yourself to really commit to the change. In this era, discipline seems to be missing in many people.
Find it. Harness it. Go after it.
Basically, change doesn’t happen once per year. It should be a slow and disciplined approach that happens on a daily basis. Reflect on your life often. Make adjustments to your life frequently. Most importantly, commit to the life you are trying to build - get after it everyday.
