2019 has only just begun, but by this point, most of us have probably forgotten our New Year’s Resolutions; that is if any resolutions were even made this year. “New year, same me! LOL.”, at least this is what filled my timeline on every social media platform as the New Year approached. Why is everyone so reluctant to change? Is it the daunting idea of change itself? Maybe it’s the unrealistic goals? Could it be that the resolutions are too vague? Lack of instant gratification? Fear of failure is another likely option for this deficiency of self-development we seem to face with every approaching New Year. Honestly, our societal struggle with resolutions is probably a combination of all of these. Rome wasn’t built in a day, The Mona Lisa wasn’t painted in a week, and even you took approximately nine months before making your first appearance. It is important to step back and look at the picture as a whole, and then realize that there will be many steps that have to be taken in order to achieve this new mission, goal, or resolution.
In the last few years, I have discovered that the best way for me to stick to a goal is to create many, focus on a few at a time, and to not be discouraged when I slip up. 2018 was one of my greatest years of personal growth. I set over 20 resolutions and while I technically accomplished none, I grew so much by working on each one. This year I have approximately 25 New Year's Resolutions written down for me to work on, and I intend to work on all of them.
One of my 2018 goals was to save money. This is a vague goal; I know. In order to save money, I had to figure out how - so for the entire year I worked on saving my change. I gave up around July but I still saved money and that’s what is important. Maybe I did not carry this resolution throughout the whole year, but by the time December came, I was more aware of my spending habits than I was in January. Another goal I had was to use my phone less, mainly in the presence of others. I have a very bad habit of just picking my phone up and mindlessly scrolling through social media. I would say that 70% of the time I am still engaged in the conversation but that doesn’t mean that I don’t look incredibly rude. By working on this, I have reduced my screen time to about 4 hours a day, most of which is between 9 pm and 12 am. This has made me focus more on my friends and has allowed us to have deeper conversations. I also realized that it is okay to be on my phone when I am around them but there is a time and a place where that is acceptable. As 2018 came to an end, I reflected on how I grew and how I needed to continue to grow. During this time, I opened the notes section on my phone and decided to do it all over again. I started with my broad goals and found ways to make them smaller and more achievable. This year I have 5 areas of my life that I plan to work on (Personal appearance, Health, Finances, Spirituality, and Other), each with a varying number of subsections that will allow me to take on my life one step at a time.
Change is terrifying, there is no doubt about it. If you’re really willing to make a difference in your life then you have to know how to approach it. Change does not come overnight and that is one thing we have to remember living in a society of instant gratification. By making several small steps it is easier to obtain a larger goal and to become the person you have dreamed of being. Let 2019 be your year of personal growth!
P.S. If you want proof that you have to keep working on your goals, just look at this post. One of my resolutions was to read or write 2 hours a day, each day (obviously not all at once), and it still took me eight days to write this blog post, and many more (a month and a half) to publish it
~Sammy~
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