Ah, it’s a new year once again. People always say, “New year, new me.” But I won’t. I’m still the same old me, the difference is that I feel change everyday. I believe that I am constantly evolving to be the next better version of myself. I also change my mind at least 24 times a day (I’m a woman, that’s what we do.) Change doesn’t just come with a new year; it takes a lot of time. With that being said, just like anyone, I fall short sometimes. The thing is, I feel that my wants or expectations do not just happen in a day or even a year. What I’ve learned is; most things I’ve gone through, that have led me to better places, take long hard work. However, there are years in our lives that we just want to forget. Some years are just a snowball effect of bad things and you want to do better for the one to come. I understand that completely. I have things, people, situations that went on in one year that will no longer follow to the next. But- just because it’s a new year, is it really a clean slate? To think that all of your problems can be wiped away starting with a whole new you and new goals just seems irrational. Here’s what I believe is the problem.
As humans, we set positive and inspiring goals for ourselves that make us feel empowered. Things like: join a gym, stop smoking, start a blog, get an apartment- all of these are quality goals. But what we forget is that sometimes (most of the time for me, personally) LIFE gets in the way and just like that, POOF your list is forgotten. We forget that the future is unknown and we can’t really predict how it will go either. It also doesn’t give us the right to just wipe away the problems of one year and start fresh in the new. I know my slate isn’t just cleared away. There are many things from 2014 I am still involved with, working on and moving forward with. There are also many things from 2014 I’m grateful for, that I still have today. My strategies for new years are very simple- realize there is no different change than the one you chose to make everyday, rather than every year. Set goals for yourself daily, instead of big ones for an entire year that you’re not going to remember in March. Be easy and good to yourself. Big things aren’t always the answers to everything or the way things get done right. So set goals that are not out of your reach, so you can feel good about yourself when you accomplish them. I can muster up a long list of things I want to do, places I want to travel and goals I want to accomplish, but in reality that list will get lost in the millions of notes I write to myself. As I said in the beginning, I change daily, so how do I know what I may want for myself right now, is something I’ll want in 6 months? I probably won’t. In my opinion, just because there is a new year, don’t forget about the slate you always had. So, here is my short and to the point New Year’s resolution for myself:
I want to live in the moments more, continue to grow and be a better person than I was (not last year, but yesterday) and most of all, live happy and healthy…. and I wish you all the same.
Samantha Jaye 