Happy New Year Lunas! We are so excited for this year and you guys are part of the reason why. We do not know how you found us or why, but we are happy you are here and we want you to stay, maybe forever? xoxo
Okay so, every beginning of the year, we all try to make resolutions. We all think back to the previous year and decide what we want to change, what we want to see more of, or what should stay the same and then set the resolutions.
I am still a firm believer in resolutions even though they have been getting less popular throughout the years.
Let me set the record straight: I don’t end up achieving many of the things on my lists. Honestly speaking, sometimes, I'll literally achieve only one. (I have recycled the ‘ learn how to play guitar’ goal since 2014 and guess what has made it to 2024 as still part of my goals…yeah, learn how to play guitar). So I am not giving advice from the arrogant standpoint of someone who has gotten it done, but from an empathising standpoint of someone who keeps trying.
PROS TO MAKING NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS:
One, I think making resolutions gets you excited for all the possibilities that could come in the new year. I had a great 2023, and I was so sad it was ending because I felt like I had lived a good year and nothing would ever amount to that, but writing my 2024 goals helped me see that this year has the possibility to be even better. And maybe, 2023 was the worst year of your life, so focusing your mind on hopeful possibilities would help you look forward to how different this year could be.
Two, sometimes these resolutions are less about achieving them and more of the process of who they make you to be. I can’t pick up the guitar easily, but I will keep trying. However, in the process, I have realised that piano is easier for me and now it can be my primary instrument while I pray that learning the guitar happens someday. It’s literally the same thing with so many goals on my list. I'm no longer in it for the achievement but for the process in between. Not everything has to be won, or completed, to be done right. (this is a big heart change for an overachiever like myself)
Three, making your New Year's resolutions shouldn't be a daunting impossible task. When making your resolutions try to think of the energy you kept the previous year, and the energy you can pick up and keep this year. For example, if you are in $10000 debt and you want to have $5000 savings, an unreasonable goal would be to put that you want to have 5000 dollars in your savings + finish your debt when you just got an entry level job. But, if you have a step by step process: first, I wanna get out of debt, after that, I want to have a savings account, and then third, have this percentage of my salary sent to my savings account. One, that sounds doable, and two, it acknowledges where you are and where you want to be.
I’m all about faith, but the actions taken matter, and sometimes these actions are literal baby steps until you eventually climb the entire staircase.
I got my resolutions “template” from a book I read last year. (One of my goals was to read 8 books in a year. I read 6 and it was so good, because one of them honestly changed a lot in my mind). It’s a book called “Dream Big” by Bob Goff. He lists a lot of things you can use to help you set your goals. However, these four points are the ones I have used ever since: Find out who you are, what you want, where you are and what are you going to do about it.
Look, I know “who am I?” is one of life's biggest questions, and the truth is, we will never ever figure out who we are completely in one go. We are too complex and everything we are is constantly changing because who we are is made up of the people we interact with, the experiences we have, the places we go, the things we do, and the things we think about. So, I am not asking you to fully figure out who you are, but to hold on to the pieces of you that haven’t changed, and if you reflect far enough you will realise what those parts are. My love for music and art has stayed through the good times and the bad times. I have always loved writing and talking to people. So, those become fundamental to what I would like to do more in this coming year. So make a list of the things you think have made you, you. And then do the same reflecting for all the questions/points listed above.
I think, at the end of the day, New Year's resolutions shouldn’t suck the life out of you, or shouldn’t be forgotten by February. Find the intentionality in making them what you have always wanted, and then pursue that with everything you are. Remain flexible because they can change. So many unprecedented things happen in our lives and it is in your best interest to have a fixed goal but remain flexible and adaptable so you don’t always stay disappointed and miss out on the unexpected good that happened in place of what you hoped for. And if you believe in God, acknowledge Him in all your ways, so He can direct you. You’ll find your way.
Hopefully, this year is filled with goal achieving Lunas. xoxo
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