Why I never make New Year resolutions anymore.

It's that time of year folks. The Christmas season 🎄🎁🎉

After all the holiday shopping. wrapping and unwrapping is done, and your bellies are full of wonderful food, we enter the last stage of the year.

You got it Pontiac... New Years eve. 🎆🍾🥂

So what do most of us do? What we always do. Make a RESOLUTION!!!

So what happens every year we make them? Two months in we break them. Why? Because we put ourselves in an awkward position with no preparation or knowledge how to accomplish our resolution and once we get discouraged we fail and give up.

I know I fell victim to this recurrence. Many, many, many, many ...... (you get the point) times. So why start after the new year at all? If you wanted to change, improve or accomplish something you would have done so already.

• That beach bod?

• The project you have been thinking on starting?

• Going on a 1 year backpacking trip in some foreign country?

Why wait to get started and just start?

I kept telling myself I'll quit smoking "this year" and I'm going to get jacked by "this time this year". And just like clockwork I stopped just because I set some unrealistic goals with little to know understanding on how difficult it will be and results for these would take time and dedication. Like most of you I didn't see immediate results and quit. The expectations I put on myself were unrealistic.

I then discovered that setting a goal in motion prior to the new year (usually I would start it August or September) of what I wanted to accomplish for the following year and started planning (if planning was needed) and just doing it (working out or smoking less) then I would be at a better state of mind for the new year and keep the momentum going.

That's how I quit smoking. Also how I became stronger from working out (got injured and had a few sureries that held me back at the start of this year) but I was in a better place then most people just starting on January 1st.

Granted this year of 2020 was not the best year for a lot of us. I did have some setbacks in the last quarter of the year. I got back to smoking and worked hard and quit again as of December. I reverted to old habitual coping skills that hindered my strength and progress. I even put my spiritual journey on hold trying to deal with my anxiety and depression resurfacing after 15+ years.

I made a promise to myself that I was going to start and I did. I'm breaking out of my anxiety and depression slowly with help from my therapist. I'm following my spiritual journey again and I am slowly building back my strength. I even created my own Facebook and Instagram account to promote my art (find links in the header or footer of my website) and recently this website as well.

I'm working on breaking out of my writer's and artist's block that has been plaguing me since the start of the 2020 pandemic. I forgot that I needed to be more forgiving to myself and kind. I forgot to be patient with myself and my progress. Progress is progress no matter how little it is, it is still better than nothing at all.

So this is why I don't make New Year resolutions anymore. Because if I (like you) wanted it so badly, I (and you) would have started well before the New Year.

So with 12 days to go until the new year, start your journey to a better you and future now. Don't wait and quit out of frustration 2 months in. What do you have to lose other than not accomplishing your goals?

Have a great Holiday Season and a Happy New Year. (If I don't post a new blog before then.)