The FJ Guide To: New Years Resolutions
Resolutions: Back to Basics
New Years Eve and the culmination of 2014 are fast approaching and along with this night of champagne, mistakes and fireworks comes the unavoidable resolutions.
Every year around this time we begin to project all of our failed wishes and aspirations from this year onto the one to come. We never think to start improving things now, as obviously its better to put it off and start fresh next year. Even though getting obscenely drunk and waking up with a hangover is probably not the best way of starting fresh… But anyway, it seems every year people begin to place this immense pressure on themselves, with classic new years resolutions (which we have all attempted) always being these big monumental shifts like I will quit smoking, I will get a six pack, eat healthy, change jobs, try harder at school, make more money etc. etc.
Now of course these are all good initiatives, but why make things so hard for yourself during the festive season. You should be doing these things all year round anyway. Why not start the year with something a little bit simpler. For example:
1. If I haven’t already I will find my signature scent and then never leave the house without it.
2. If I haven’t already I will do something with the sole intention of impressing people at dinner parties, like read a Dostoyevsky novel or take scuba diving lessons.
3. If I haven’t already I will shave off my beard so I don’t look like a hipster caveman anymore.
With such easily attainable goals, you can improve your life and confidence in a matter of days as opposed to months or years. Rather than setting ourselves up to inevitably fail with these big, finalistic sounding resolutions, how about keeping it nice and easy.
4. Why lament over getting that promotion when you can make yourself feel better by selling old clothes on eBay and buying those perfect YSL sunglasses you have been eying? (And may just help get you that promotion).
5. Why commit to organising your desk when you can commit to impulse buying a puppy or taking the weekend off work and driving your boyfriend to the beach?
6. Why cut out drinking or eating, when you can promise yourself you will only stop drinking cheaply?
We should be indulging our desires at this time of year, not playing to our sensibilities. Summer holidays are a time for fun and relaxation, so why coat that in a layer of pressures and expectations?
We think you deserve better. You have reached the end of another year, whether it has been good, bad, productive or frantic, there is certainly something worth celebrating. Treat yourself, take some of the pressure off and do something you have been too busy or too cautious to do all year. And then you can take the sense of accomplishment you get from extinguishing these little, pet goals and apply it to the bigger things in life throughout the rest of the year.
Happy New Year and good luck!