I was chatting with my neighbour yesterday.
She said to me “I’m not buying in to all this pressure to start the year perfectly and have all my goals in order with too many things to achieve.”
She already had me nodding – “Good plan” I was thinking.
The she said “I’m going to give myself a month to get my shit together.”
I’m still nodding and thinking her plan has merit.
Then she says “Actually I’m giving myself the whole year. We’ve had too many bad years and I’m giving myself permission to not be frantically goal driven or have unachievable New Year’s resolutions.”
This is the best plan I have heard for a long time.
The start of a new year is often so filled with impossible tasks we set ourselves that we rarely fulfil.
We’ll lose weight, exercise more, stop smoking, stop drinking, be nicer, read a book a week, learn French, and stop swearing. All things we may not actually enjoy.
We’re spurred on by initial enthusiasm but that quickly wanes to obligation, pressure and resentment.
I can definitely think of better ways to start the year.
What if we took a leaf out of my neighbour’s book?
What if we didn’t set unrealistic goals? And weren’t frantically driven to achieve?
What if we decided to make rest a priority? And maybe even fun?
We have had a hard few years – fires, floods, covid, and for a lot of people, loss.
It takes time to recover from stressors like these. And that means being gentle with yourself.
If you’re full of beans and raring to go then you go get ‘em.
If you’re not then honour that and be easy with you.
Happy New Year
