New Year New You- I Have My 2018’S Resolutions, What’s Yours

New Years Resolutions, you either love them, hate them, or ignore the prospect all together. I consider myself an optimistic person and look for the silver lining in most of life. “You have to do everything you can, you have to work your hardest, and if you do, you have a shot at a silver lining.”

Pat said it best in The Silver Linings Playbook. Life is hard, and full of ups and downs, in order to grab life by the horns, we need to be ever evolving. This is where making resolutions comes in handy.

Life is constantly changing, out with the old, and in with the new. Often times I wake up, and wonder how in the world I got to where I am today. There is so much that I want to achieve, and making resolutions keep me accountable for my goals.

Now we all know the cliche resolutions that every Tom, Dick, and Harry use. As cliche as some of them are, they aren’t the worst things to implement in your life to enhance* it. Below are the top New Years Resolutions:

1. Lose* Weight/ Eat Healthier
2. Life/ Self Improvement
3. Better Financial Decisions
4. Quit Smoking
5. Do More Exciting Things
6. Spend More Time With Family/ Friends
7. Workout More Often
8. Learn Something New On Your Own
9. Do More Good Deeds For Others
10. Find The Love Of My Life
11. Find a Better Job

Love Of My LifeI am sure these don’t come to shock most of us, as I have used one or two myself. As a matter of fact, my number 1 resolution last year was to get into better shape, I didn’t want to loose weight, but tone up and get into a more healthier lifestyle. Clearly it’s a lot of peoples goals as it sits number 1 on the list.

It’s best to sit down and write you resolutions down, it makes you more accountable to see them written. It makes them more tangible in a sense.

I am a list maker, it makes my life much easier to have a check list to make my day more efficient. By writing down your goals and placing them somewhere you will often see them, will help kick start you to obtain your goal.

Every New Years Eve, I take a sheet of paper and write down the top 3 goals I want to achieve the upcoming year. Each year my goals change, they rarely stay the same. I think with every year, I realize more of who I am and what I want out of my life.

When we were younger, I felt like life was moving so slowly, but it just seemed that way. Now that I am in my 30’s, I realize how quick each days passes. I want to live my life to the fullest, our days aren’t promised to us and we need to grab life by the horns. This year my number 1 doesn’t top the list of most used resolutions.

Statically, only 41% of people actually make New Years Resolutions and only 48% of those people follow through passed the 6 month mark.

Material Items
My number 1 (and hopefully a lot of other peoples too,) is to be happy. By happy I mean, I want to feel it deep into my bones. Life has a tendency of sweeping us into the day to day, where we forget to sit down and figure out what makes us happy.

It’s easy to think material items can fulfill that feeling, and often times it does. But, it’s a short term feeling and it dissipates.

I want to wake each day with a smile and now that I am in control of my life and my own happiness. I don’t want to rely on someone or something for my happiness.

My second goal is to continue working out. I am one of the many of millions of people that suffer from anxiety. I don’t have an extreme case, however, my anxiety has held me back from doing certain things.

This past year I have found that working out curbs a lot of my anxious feelings. Running specifically, I pop my headphones in and run a few miles. It allows me to process my thoughts, and it’s great for brainstorming.

My 3rd goal is to work more on my writing. This is a hard one for me, I am naturally introverted and it has been a struggle to expose my inner most feelings to strangers. But, on the other side of the coin it is a cathartic experience. I am a more expressive in my writing and can express my feelings much better than communicating them.

Writing And Can Express My Feelings
I will take my top 3 goals and write them down on a sticky note and place it next to my computer screen. I will have to look at them daily and it sparks something inside of me to work harder. Not everyday will I succeed, but as long as I put the effort then I will be satisfied.

This is the time of year that makes a great time for self reflection. You are always going to have the skeptic, but push through. We only get this one life, our days are not guaranteed to us.

What works for one may not work for the rest. Take this time to sit and reflect on what YOU want out of your life. It might be something that will take years to change.

Read More: Real Life Weight Loss Advice

I am pretty sure finding out my true happiness won’t be decided in a 12 month year calendar, but I don’t want to wake up 5 years from now and wonder where I went wrong.

Same goes for the rest of us! If you want to quit smoking, take the steps to start. It doesn’t mean you need to quit cold turkey. Do what works best for you!

Enjoy the process and be easy on yourself. There a road blocks, and speed bumps in life. Nothing is perfect, and this process isn’t. Take it day by day, enjoy the New Year Eve festivities!

Cites:
TWC ; directed by David O. Russell ; screenplay by David O. Russell ; produced by Donna Gigliotti, Bruce Cohen, Jonathan Gordon ; the Weinstein Company presents. Silver Linings Playbook. [New York, N.Y.] :Weinstein Company, 2012. Print.