This is it – tomorrow’s the day – another year has come to an end and we’re just hours away from a new year, a new beginning, a fresh start. But it’s also a time to reflect and look back on the year that we’re leaving behind. For me, it was a year full of ups and downs (mostly ups though, ever since the second half of the year); I had surgery, which took a very long time to recover from, I moved country, met new people, went back to university. It has been a year full of learning opportunities and I can only hope, 2019 will be the same, but even better.
One thing I learned from being bed-ridden for several months on end, was who I am and who I want to be, I figured out what I want to do with my life and how I’m going to reach my long-term goals. For me, when I first started walking again and managed to leave the house, it felt like a new beginning – “new hip, new me,” I thought to myself. Just like most of us do at New Years (except most people probably think “new year, new me” instead of the hip thing, but you get what I mean). And that’s what I want to talk about today – the whole new year, new me thing. We’ve all been there, we’ve all made the typical new year’s resolutions: “Starting tomorrow, I’m going to lose weight” or “I’m going to work out more” or “I’m going to save my money”, “I’ll drink less alcohol” and then the clock strikes midnight, we continue drinking throughout the night and spend the next three weeks dragging our still hung-over bodies to the gym, in expensive new gym gear that we bought to motivate ourselves, before we get frustrated and come up with excuses. And while I applaud everyone who wants to get fit and be healthier (I did it myself – it’s awesome: I eat a mostly plant-based diet, go swimming once a week and to the gym twice a week and I’ve never felt better), we often don’t realise that, as we make our new year’s resolutions, we subconsciously think about everything we’re bad at and we try and force ourselves to be better at those things.
Obviously, wanting to better yourself, is always a good idea, but it should be something you can commit to on a daily basis – little steps, realistic goals. However, your average new year’s resolutions are, mostly, unrealistic and unattainable – you set yourself a huge goal for the next year, but after just a couple of weeks, you lose sight, you lose motivation and you quit. Instead, set yourself small monthly or even weekly goals, write down lists of everything you can do to obtain said goals and remind yourself that you’re doing this for yourself.
What I’m trying to say here, is that new year’s aspirations can have very negative connotations, depending on how you word them, they might almost seem like a punishment of some sort, when, in reality, whatever it is you want to do, you should do it for you and your current and future self.
This year, for the first time in forever, my new year’s resolutions are not going to be to lose weight, get fit and find a boyfriend. I’m already working on those and have come a long way (except the boyfriend thing – I seem to be exceptionally bad at that, but, oh well… nobody’s perfect). This year I aspire to be happy. I want to make as many happy memories as possible. This year I aspire to be kind. This year I aspire to take better care of myself, my body and my physical and mental wellbeing (and if you listen closely – you’ll realise that this does involve being fit, but the main focus is a different one). This year I aspire to be the best version of myself so far. This year I aspire to try my best in everything I do. But above all, I aspire to have a damn good time.
If you want to make new year’s resolutions, but can’t think of anything positive, here is a list of questions you could ask yourself. If you want to, share your answers in the comments below.
- A new skill I’d like to learn:
- A good deed I’m going to do:
- A place I’d like to visit:
- A person I hope to see more often:
- What are 3 things I’d like to try this year:
- What will I say yes to:
- What will I say no to:
And then, obviously, there’s the one new year’s resolution we can all make and it’s an important one: Stay hydrated!
On that note – cheers to a new year and a new beginning. I hope 2019 brings you everything you wish for and more and you achieve all your goals. Cue the confetti.
Sarah x (MH Stories Ambassador)
If you want to read more posts by Sarah, click here.
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