Do you feel different? More hopeful, motivated? It’s the general excitement that comes with change in a new year. I’m feeling it a bit. I have all of these ideas that have been percolating in my head. A new year seems like the perfect time to let them loose. Still, I feel a bit of the sameness even though the calendar has changed.
We get so excited about a new year and all the promise it seems to bring with it. My only struggle with that is that what about today? What I’m saying is, shouldn’t we feel that same hope and promise about each new day? I know so many people who put life on hold until the new year. There are goals that aren’t tackled, places they haven’t gone, things they haven’t done because they’re waiting for the new year. I have seen friends on my timeline gladly kick last year to the curb for one reason or another declaring that 2019 would be their year. While I understand that a lot of people went through heart-wrenching times in 2018, I’m not willing to write off a WHOLE year of my life as bad.
Maybe it’s the Pollyanna in me, I always look for the silver lining. There had to have been some good days, times, memories in the last year. Focus more on those. In a conversation, a friend said that 2019 was going to be her year, things were going to change and she couldn’t wait for it. A friend of hers chimed in and told her, it’s not the year that determines the change in your life. He told her that if she entered into a new year without making any changes in herself or her life, 2019 would be very much the same as 2018. She dismissed him.
In my view, he’s right. It’s a huge truth pill that isn’t easy to swallow. I know I’ve started a new year convinced things would be different and I was so disappointed when that year ended and I was very much in the same place as I was when it started. I hadn’t made any real changes in my life and expected that a change in the calendar would change my life. How? On the flip side, when I was intentional about what I wanted and worked to make the changes – I saw results. It’s not a coincidence. It’s the same as saying we want to lose weight but not moving any more than before and having the exact same diet. That’s now how this works. That’s not how any of this works. Ha!
A big thing for me last year was creating a vision board. It put my goals in my face and that helped me to keep them top of mind and work toward them. I had six goals on my board and five of them happened. The last one is still in the works. I’m going to take the same approach this year. There’s too much I want to be, see and do to leave it all up to change, you know?
How are you approaching the new year? Does the new year bring change for you?
7 Comments on What makes real change in the New Year?
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I need to buy my son posterboard for a project! Maybe I’ll buy myself a piece and make it into a vision board.
your article is fantastic and it makes me think of the monty python song (always look on the bright side of life)! i am an optimistic pollyanna too. a fierce feminist/activist/ally but pollyanna for sure.
Clare @ Oh These Are The Good Old Days recently posted…My Word of the Year for 2019: EVOLVE
i love this, you brought up really good points. i’m working on making balance more constant in 2019
Jasmine Hewitt recently posted…Gross Dangers of Dumpster Diving & Why To Avoid It
I def need changes in specifically my weight !
I certainly agree! The new year won’t bring any change unless you’re willing to make them yourself!
Creating a vision board was huge for me, too! I made mine on Canva and then ordered a print to frame in my office.
It’s always great to look at the positive side.