Why I Didn’t Make a Long List of Resolutions for 2019

Hello lovely people.

I’m back, once again.

For those of you who didn’t know, I spent a little over a month away from the internets and immersed in my own little world. I filled each day with laughter, tears, self-reflection, love and peace (as much as I could get). If you remember the break I took back in July, you’ll understand a bit more why I took the time I did away from social media and blogging.

I realized that there was too much noise. Too many things were taking over the most important voice- which is my own. It erased my ability to block out everything insignificant and it was something that took more than a short hiatus to overcome.

I will always suggest a break from being online. More so now than ever, I support self-reflection and self-love practices each and every day. Each day is a new day to love yourself and to forgive yourself. A new day to start, a new day to stop, a new day to continue. I encourage listening closely to what it is that you want, and doing just that, regardless of what people have to say.

With that being said, 2019 rolled in quickly for me. I took advantage of each day of my break leading up to the new year and continued it into this first week of 2019. In light of the new year, I set up my station as always to prepare for my annual goal-setting regime. It was then when I realized- I had no desire to make a long list of ish to accomplish for 2019. Not. One. Bit.

Here’s why I decided against my usual long-list of goals to reach for 2019:

It’s stressful.
It often eliminates room for self-reflection (which is imperative to goal-setting)
It can be extremely daunting.

Ever wonder why those who make a big list of goals and stop trying and even caring after the month of January? See above.

Listen- I’m here for reaching goals and constantly evolving into my best self. But it’s so important to realize that just because it’s a new day or new year- doesn’t mean you have to completely change everything overnight. It’s far more effective to make genuine changes each day that lead towards your goals. Starting, or rather, stopping things cold turkey without significant planning will impact the goals you create and your ability to reach them.

What I mean to say is- deciding you want to “go back to the gym”, “eat healthier” or “quit smoking” isn’t going to work if you get a gym membership without creating a schedule of when to go (and sticking to it), completely changing your diet or throw out your fresh pack of cigarettes. You have to continue to choose your goal each and everyday. Even when you don’t want to.

Instead of focusing on what I wanted to change, I spent my time reflecting on the right things and wrong things I did during 2018. For me, like many others, 2018 came with a lot of rough waters and I’m not necessarily looking at avoiding them- but how to handle them better. Ample reflection on how I can do better in 2019 is my first step towards a better goal-setting process.

Next, I look at the big picture and line up me larger goals, which usually consists of 2-3 big things I want to accomplish in the year. From there, I can categorize the goals I want to reach on a smaller scale, based on how they link to my larger goals. These are things I want to focus on for that month, or even that week. The goal here is small bites. Each day is a new day to take a step towards your goal- any and all of them. Don’t stress yourself over accomplishing goals fast, work on actually accomplishing them first.

While reflecting on my personal journey, I took a little bit of time to simply by grateful. Self-reflection isn’t always easy, yet I always find that reminding myself of the things I’m grateful for leave me in much happier, determined and positive state of mind.

I took time to read more of the books I wanted to during the self-reflection stage. It’s so important to take time to do what it is that YOU want to do! Learn more about YOU.

With that being said, next time you think “New Year, New Me”- think of how you can deliberately flourish into the best you in a forgiving, loving way. You just might reach that one goal that’s been on your list since 2015!!!