New Year’s Resolutions For a New Normal
Yep, just as 2020 has changed everything from our jobs, education, and daily lives to our holiday celebrations, New Year’s Eve will also be quite different this year. To that end, New Year’s resolutions take on a new possibility for us, and maybe a new perspective. For many, New Year’s is a fresh start, a place to put a stake in the ground on a new year, and many make New Year’s resolutions to personally set ahead of them the things they wish to accomplish in this refreshed time. Few will follow through as time, commitments, and the difficulties of holding the course take a toll. For 2021 though, maybe it’s time to take a fresh look at what these tiny fresh starts could truly offer each of us.
2021 New Year’s Resolutions
We all learned a lot in 2020, much of it forced upon us and not of our own making. Parents became home educators, customer service-driven industries dried up or sent workers home to virtual office spaces, and our family and friends circles shrank to socially distanced approved guidelines. For 2021 we face a new normal for all of us, which will continue to include changes to our lifestyles that might not be in our control. Our resolutions, though, are the goals we can make just for us – the tiny bit of control we can give ourselves to work toward in the coming year.
Think about what you missed in 2020 – friends, your job, the security of a home, or maybe your normal workout routine. How and what could you change in 2021 if nothing else changed in the world? I know, breathe for a moment – we all hope 2021 will allow us to return to our routines but imagine for a moment it doesn’t. What then? Would you change how often and how you creatively stay in touch with family and friends? Maybe would you redo something in your home that maybe you neglected? Would you get out and walk every day for mental and physical acuity? These and other items you can control, and make them your New Year’s resolution baseline.
Why make resolutions?
Resolutions at a given point in time each year may seem like a ridiculous habit, but honestly, these are amazing guideposts by which to live for the coming year. We all do better at work, at school, and in our daily lives if we have goals that we are stretching for and working to attain. Instead of making impossible wishes that are so far out of reach, you will soon lose interest in keeping them; rather, make this a time of reflection by which you can provide yourself new goals to work towards.
You can control resolutions! Like any good goal, they should be specific, attainable, and have accountability attached. These tiny wins we can put out in front of us and hold ourselves or get others to help us work towards giving us a target to which we continue to march. I, for one, always make New Year’s resolutions as a benchmark of what I didn’t do this year that I wanted to and what I intend to do about it next year.
As we work our way this week toward a new year that most will celebrate virtually, socially distanced from crowds, or in other creative ways, take a reflective moment. What resolutions do you wish to make for 2021? What attainable milestones and new goals would you like to work towards in this new normal world in which we all now live? And if you know someone struggling this year, maybe reach out and make this a bonding time. What can you do to help others, hold them accountable to new goals, and buoy spirits into making 2021 the year of possibilities we never knew possible?
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