What Makes Resolutions Hard
Making New Year’s Resolutions are always fun to set, but controversial all at the same time. I often find myself excited at the possibilities, and depressed at how much I want to change. Am I really not good enough as I am? Can I really make a change this year?
This year as I contemplate what I want to change, I find myself in a funk! I want a beautiful house, a successful business helping lots of women feel better, to finally loose that weight that leaves me hurting, to physically feel good, and to be a better parent, wife, and friend. All while feeling like I can’t keep up with life, let alone take time to improve it. Do you find yourself there too?
5 simple steps to make New Year’s resolutions stick:
- Dream about what your life would look like if there were no limitations. Don’t worry about whether it seems doable or not. Don’t judge your dreams. Just allow them to flow.
- Look for themes in those dreams. If you had to categorize them, what titles would you give them? What would having that dream come true really mean to you or change your life? How would it make you feel? For example, I want to loose 50 pounds. When I examine deeper, what I really want is to feel good physically and have the energy to do the things. I think accomplishing this will deepen my connection with my family and make me happier.
- Take those categories and deeper reasons to create super simple steps. For example, I want to feel better physically and have more energy. My first step is stop drinking caffeinated soda. I have lots of chatter in my brain about how it affects my lung capacity, overall health, inability to stick to healthy eating, might be contributing to my anxiety and heart burn, etc. So for the month of January, I am not going to drink caffeine or regular soda.When my brain wants to think this is a stupid idea, and it will! I will answer it back by saying you can drink one on February first and then redirect it to something else. Or I can do this simple thing for myself today.
Simple steps might look like:
Plugging your phone in at night in another room.
Eating a veggie with dinner.
Checking in with yourself each night as you brush your teeth.
Wearing jeans instead of yoga pants.
Doing one load of laundry everyday.
Taking five minutes to do something you love each day or week.
Noticing how you feel each day.
Saying I love you every day to your kids and/or spouse. - When you get good at the super simple task. Then reevaluate. Are you getting closer to your goal? Did you decide this isn’t really that important to you? Now add another super simple step. And keep going until you make it where you want to be. In my example, I may add a 10 minute walk or making a veggie with each dinner. And keep going! If you need add a reminder to your calendar on a certain date to reevaluate.
- Celebrate your progress daily! Our brains are wired to look for the negative in life. That’s how it kept us alive back in the cave days. So we have to work at looking for our wins. Just this morning, I grabbed a water bottle instead of a Pepsi when I woke up with a migraine. That is a HUGE win for me! So I’m acknowledging that giving myself kudos! No win is too small to celebrate!
