A new year feels like a chance to hit the reset button on life’s clock. This is also the time when many set ambitious New Year’s resolutions that they know they’ll break before Easter rolls around. So, why create New Year’s resolutions in the first place?

I’ve never been one to trick myself into thinking because it’s January 1 that I’m now going to change my ways, so I’ve never had New Year’s resolutions. However, if I was to play along and make up some New Year’s resolutions that I’ll probably drop by February, I asked myself, “What would be your New Year’s resolutions?” Here is my list:

  1. Write and meditate daily.
  1. Answer all calls and stop avoiding bill collectors. Avoiding it won’t make the bills go away.
  1. Stay more connected to the people who matter. I have friends who mean the world to me, but I hardly see or talk to them outside of birthdays. This needs to change.
  1. Have a better relationship with money.
  1. Create a complaint jar. Add a penny every time I complain as a reminder to be grateful and have a positive mindset.
  1. Clean my room daily. Keeping it real, this won’t even last to January 10th.
  1. Travel once a quarter by car or plane away from San Francisco. For something that means so much, I need to do it more.
  1. Move to posting two articles a week by mid-February. I have a lot to say this year and I’m excited to share!
  1. Spend time with my niece and nephews every other month. These kids are growing up and I am tired of missing out on their lives.
  1. Forgive and remind myself daily before I go to sleep that I’m doing the best I can at this moment. Tomorrow is a new day, so don’t bring along yesterday’s problem.

For someone who’s never created New Year’s resolutions, I am shocked I was able to come up with so many. However, making the list is easy. It’s finding a way not to break your New Year’s resolution that is the true struggle for so many. But why do so many people break or give up on their New Year’s resolutions?

I think it’s because they create laundry list like the one I just created. I say start small and be realistic. You know what you can realistically commit to doing, so be honest with yourself.

Photo courtesy of: Elvert Barnes/ www.sweetgreen.com/2012

Photo courtesy of: Elvert Barnes/ www.sweetgreen.com/2012

If I’m being honest with myself, I initially had no intention of honoring any of my fake New Year’s resolutions. Yet, my curiosity got the best of me and I want to see if I could actually stick with it; plus I love a challenge.

My plan is to pick three items from my long list of New Year’s resolutions and report back in six months on my progress. Hopefully it won’t be a quick sentence stating I gave up in February.

 

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