| Yes, it’s officially a new decade. So far I have spent it like I spent the end of the last decade – in my pyjamas eating macadamia nuts and bingeing on Netflix. I figure it’s better to start small and work up to bigger things.I’m not generally one for New Year’s Resolutions – better known as casual promises that you are under no legal obligation to keep.Statistics show that 92% drop their New Year’s Resolution in about 7 minutes flat. If you are very, very quiet, you can hear them breaking all over the world.So rather than setting myself up to fail, I prefer to cut out the middleman and jump straight to not doing things.But two years ago, I came up with a resolution I could actually keep. It had everything an achievable goal should have. It was specific ― not vague or lofty, like wearing breathable fleece or reading all seven parts of Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past. Itwas a small, daily task with measurable results. It was intrinsically motivated — I was doing this for me and me alone. My resolution: eat more chocolate. And I did it. I’m still doing it today. Matter of fact, I’m doing it right now. |
I am fairly certain that given a cape and a nice tiara, I could save the world.
Some resolutions are easily enough achieved, like cutting down on extramarital affairs, but some are like hammering the ‘CLOSE DOOR’ button in an elevator when you see your archenemy approaching. There just is no point. It won’t close any faster by continually punching it. It only gives you the illusion of control and stops you from remembering that you’re in a metal box dangling from a wire sixty feet in the air.
| Developing a good habit or breaking a bad one isn’t easy, as anyone who has endeavoured to make a New Year’s resolution can attest. It is now well known that there is no magic time interval to make a habit. Not 21 days, not 30 days for majestic abs, not 66 days to stop late night snacking. I found that the best way to begin a new habit is to set the bar incredibly low. You pick something so small, it’s easy to do. For instance, you want a tidy house, then start with tidying up your bathroom. Every Day. That’s it. Little motivation is required and you never raise the minimum. The goal remains to only tidying up your bathroom – everyday. Anything more is a bonus. If you want to maintain the habit, and hopefully one day exceed it, you need to be okay with just doing the original version of it.In other words, if you get immediate rewards from your new habits, you will be more likely to stick to them.Like – this past year I went to the gym eight times. This New Year’s resolution is to cut that number in half. It’s something like the age old age battle of doing what you want to do, and not what you should do – like not returning your grocery cart and wearing questionable fashion statements. |
“Should-ing” on yourself is never a good idea. It only leads to guilt, shame, remorse, and probably more drinking.
Take that one word, “should” out of your vocabulary, and you may stand a fighting chance of scaling the heights of sorting through those closets, tackling the basement, or thinning out the filing cabinets.
| “Should” implies that whatever you are planning is only a possibility, not a reality. In other words, you’re giving yourself an excuse simply by saying you “should” do something, rather than you “will” do something. As Nike says, Just Do It, and pretty soon and before you know it, you may find yourself deep in recycling bags. That is, after you take that 30 minute walk that you vowed to do everyday since 1804. I know, I’m being surprisingly unhelpful. So, as someone dragging a trail of abandoned yoga mats and water bottles, it’s nice to finally see the bottom of a promise fulfilled – another empty chocolate box. By the way, January 8 is National Ditch New Year’s Resolutions Day, or in the case of a small disinterested minority, the anniversary of Prime Minister Patrice Emery Lumumba’s Assassination. Here’s to a powerful and cheerful new year. |
Happy New Year Karyn!
I enjoy reading your blogs – it always lightens my day😊 I hope your 2020 finishes as it began and that you accomplish cutting the gym attendance – you go girl!
Cheers!
Sherry
Yes indeed…. keep it simple…. I have been consuming chocolate on a daily basis and loving it!
PS… I was savoring a piece of that dark stuff as I opened this email. – Sharon
Although we have moved to Kelowna BC I still enjoy getting your posts. Especially this New Years message!
Thanks, Bonnie
Best read!
Pamela
Very humorous and yet thoughtful.
Thanks.
Happy New Year to you as well.
Marlene
Hi Karyn; I love your sense of humour as always! I just wanted to share that the only New Year’s resolution I’ve ever been able to keep (and it is the last one I ever made A number of years ago) and that was not to make any more New Year’s resolutions!
All the best to you in the new year! Teeya