It’s 2018 and just as many memes suggest, most of my New Year resolutions for 2017 has gone out the door. The weight is still clinging to me like a desperate needy chick, as this blog can attest I wrote next to nothing and my study material has been more effective as dust collectors.
It’s a tiresome loop a lot of us seem to go into. We start the year with vigour and commit to do and change so many things. We want to conquer the world in the New Year, mainly I think, as a way to soothe our guilt for our lack lustre performance in the previous year.
I can say that 2017 had granted me a lot of self growth and discovery. I feel much more comfortable with who I am and more sure of what I want in life. It’s also given me a lot of clarity about relationships with not only other people, but myself as well.
So into 2018 I am taking the lessons and realizations of 2017 and expanding on them.
Relationships are give and take and the relationships in your life should add value and leave you feeling positive and empowered. Life is to short to waste time on relationships where you are used, broken down or left to feel negative. The people you surround yourself with influence you in a much greater way than we can possible imagine. So in 2018 I will focus on the relationships that build and inspire and leave behind the toxic relationships that seem like a task of slave labour.
I have always had a nasty habit of putting everyone else’s needs, wants and expectations in front of mine. This road does not lead to happiness it leads to worn out and resentful. I will learn to say NO, to put myself first more often, to do more of what I enjoy and not constantly try to be or like what others want me to be or like. Now that I have a much firmer grip of who I am, what I enjoy and where I am headed it’s much easier to do Me.
Watching series after series is an unproductive waste of time and adds no value to your life. I am not advocating never watching a single episode of anything ever again; I am suggesting a serious cut back of the hours spent watching series. No more marathon watching of season after season. Spend your hour’s productively or at least watch/listen/read things that add value and improve your being. Listen a podcast, watch a documentary or take up a hobby. There are many fantastic things that time can be spent on that will enrich your life much more than yet another episode of walking dead.
Last but for me one of the most important, your health. We are always chasing quick fixes and big drops on the scale. We get so caught up in the quest to lower the number on the scale that we totally forget what it really is all about: HEALTH. I get extremely obsessed with a number on a scale and if it doesn’t move or show the progress I want, I get upset and just give up. The real focus should be health; eating healthy and being physically active to get the most out of your meat vehicle. Nutrition and exercise isn’t just about weight, it influences a multitude of things from cognitive function to mental illness. If we focus on the health aspect and not a number on a scale the odds are that we will stick to it and really make it a lifestyle.
I am not calling these resolutions, but guidelines to live by for 2018 and for life moving forward. Sometimes we will veer slightly off route, but as long as we get back on route as soon as possible, we will make progress. As long as we keep moving forward, progress is progress, even if it is a little at a time. But hopefully I can gather momentum and slingshot myself into leaps of progress so that when I look back at 2018 I can be proud.