I used to start out on January 1st with a long list of New Year’s resolutions. And every year after just a few days or weeks, those resolutions were long forgotten. Whenever this would happen, I would be very unhappy with myself for not being able to stick to those resolutions and I would feel like such a failure. So I finally decided that I would not make any resolutions but it is not because of my past failures.
And my New Year’s wish for you is that you will join me in the “no New Year’s resolutions” campaign and just enjoy each day for exactly what it brings your way and let us travel an uncharted path that brings us peace and joy and love for the future.Barbara Jacoby
When I started to assess my new list of resolutions, I suddenly realized that I had not failed in the past but rather had set my goals starting on an artificial date. There is no way that I know what will come my way in the New Year so how can I set real goals now for specifics that have not yet revealed themselves. Let me give you an example. I wrote my first blog on January 22, 2008. At that time, I did not have any particular long-term goal for doing these blogs but somewhere along the way, I decided that it should be a weekly post and as January 22, 2019 quickly approaches, I anticipate that I will write a blog each of the next 3 weeks to successfully complete 11 full years of writing here each week.
Now to me, that is an accomplishment as I had never envisioned myself as a writer and had someone said to me in those early days that I should set a goal of writing every single week, I would probably have been discouraged before I even started. I would have had no idea that there would ever be enough topics about which I would want to write. I would have felt so much pressure to come up with something new every 7 days. But, by doing something for the first time and allowing the process to evolve rather than setting stringent goals, I have been able to do something that I would never have imagined at its beginning.
I think this applies to anything that we wish to accomplish. If we decide that we want to do something, any day throughout the year is a good starting point. We may try to do something and find that the method that we used didn’t work. So we have a choice to either give up or find something else that works better for us on a personal level. For example, you may want to “work” out more but are so tired of going to the gym and repeating the same exercise routines over and over. But what may work for you is to play a good game of tennis or basketball or some other sport that you enjoy and then what you are doing doesn’t even feel like working out. Or if you don’t feel like you have time to do a specific regiment or play a game, there are ways to create from your housework or the long hours at the office some meaningful exercises that can produce the changes that you want.
So this year, I am going to welcome the New Year with lots of hope and anticipation that I will find the ways to make the changes on all levels that I would like to make in my own life and to find new ways to help others. And it truly will not matter on what day I reach a goal or if I sustain something for an entire year, just as long as whatever I do makes a positive difference. And my New Year’s wish for you is that you will join me in the “no New Year’s resolutions” campaign and just enjoy each day for exactly what it brings your way and let us travel an uncharted path that brings us peace and joy and love for the future.
Barbara Jacoby is an award winning blogger that has contributed her writings to multiple online publications that have touched readers worldwide.