Happy New Year!
I hope everyone had an amazing night witnessing the arrival of the new year. With that being said, I also want to wish everyone happiness, love and the courage to go after your goals and dreams.
Here is an image that I love that really captures some amazing messages for life:
With the beginning of the New Year, the days and weeks leading up to the big night, everyone seems to discuss two things:
1. "What are your plans for New Year's Eve?"
2. "Have you made any resolutions for the New Year?"
Now for some of us, this can be a very tricky thing. The minute you verbally admit or acknowledge your resolutions, you are then held accountable by the same person that asked you to share them in the first place. For example if you said you are not going to have any sweets, the one time you reach for a chocolate pretzel or an M&M, you hear: "Someone is breaking the resolution!" Talk about pressure.
Resolutions are a great idea if you want to set a start date to something you have been putting off, or like the idea of starting something fresh at the beginning of the new year, since the excitement of January 1st can be breathtaking.
However, if you do share your resolutions, the added pressure of everyone asking and holding you accountable can be down right frustrating and can actually make your new year start off not so great, which can result in breaking the resolution to soon.
If you are one who loves to have resolutions and are able to keep them, AWESOME! Keep doing it. But if you want to try a different approach for the new year, here are a few ideas that I have found that would be great:
1. Try doing something new
This can be so personal to each individual, whether it's trying a new class, riding a motorcycle, getting a tattoo, going back to school or trying a different cuisine. Whatever it may be, pick that one thing that you have never done and just go out and do it. Let this not be limited to the start of the year but at any time of the year, even if it's on December 31st.
2. The best part(s) of my day
This can be done in a number of ways. The old school way is to write in your journal, or writing these things down on pieces of paper and putting them into a jar. Now there are so many tech apps that are at our fingertips so this one is the easiest to do. The most popular is Instagram and of course FaceBook. List or photo capture all the amazing things that happened in the day. At the end of the year, you can take a look back at all the good.
3. Take a look at your hobby and try something new with it
Whether it's cooking, baking, drawing, music or pretty much anything. Figure out something that you haven't done or tried and promise yourself to do that before the end of the year.
4. Remember to take a memento
With all the socializing we do, make it a habit to get a memento. For example if you go out to restaurants a lot, take a business card and write the date and who you went with, if you travel remember to keep your boarding passes. Maybe you are a sports fan, keep the event tickets. Then at some point you will have a enough and you can do something creative with it, by getting it all framed or start a scrap book. If you do all of the above, keep these items in a shoe box, and then take a look at it at the end of the year.
All of these things will make the new year a lot more positive and something to look forward to each day. Hope some of these ideas can inspire you to try something new!
Always Smile :) - Sand
