New Year’s Resolutions You’ll Enjoy and Achieve

At the closing of the old year and rising of the new, many of us think about what to resolve doing differently than we have been doing. January 1st, after the holiday excess, it’s natural to want to pour ourselves into a new you. Restarting our engines.

So we set a high bar and make a resolution that we’ll get fit in body, mind, finances, relationships, etc. And we run at it full tilt. Like many a sprint, though, we outrun our ability to maintain that pace. We get discouraged. And label ourselves quitters, feel bad, and sometimes overcompensate at the fridge or just sitting it out. What to do?

How about recognize that January 1st sucks as a starting date for what should be long term goals. Really, what we need after the holidays for most of us is a real vacation, sunshine, and warmth. Our bodies are trying to hibernate not power up. Why not go with that and instead make a resolution for something you’ll enjoy or permit yourself to do?

Work on goals a bit later when the month settles down.

This year, try these for resolutions:

Permission to eat your favorite food. (Hey, dark chocolate is good for you in moderation.) Permission to watch a favorite show. Permission to see friends more. Permission to savor a book just because. Permission to play in the snow or at sports. Permission to indulge in your hobby.

One year I resolved to eat more chocolate at my favorite chocolate bar. I did, though surprisingly not as much as I would have thought. Nothing to quit doing, so no guilt. Instead, I’d think about it and figure out when I’d go there.

Each time I went, I felt great about once again fulfilling my New Year’s Resolution which made the chocolate desert taste better than one I felt bad about eating. Because I had given myself permission to enjoy what normally I’d deprive myself of. Surprisingly, I only went a handful of times and my desire to go left me as did much of my desire to eat chocolate.

How much more enjoyable will the end of January be if you also chose a resolution that you’ll enjoy? That you grant yourself permission to do it? How will you continue to feel throughout the year about your resolution if no matter when or how much you do it, you never feel like you’re breaking it nor quitting? Yes! These are New Year’s Resolutions you won’t stress about.

Your attitude will be so much better. You’ll be happier. Those around you will notice I bet. Some may even be a bit jealous that you’re enjoying your resolutions will they feel guilt about theirs. And now that all those goals you’ll work on too, just at a better pace and a better time.

Now what ‘s a resolution that you will enjoy achieving all next year?