It’s the end of the first week of 2024, and I have found myself doing things that I have been putting off for a while. For example, going a run, climbing a hill, riding my bike, studying French on Duolingo, writing a journal entry, tracking my health, reading a few books, reducing my screen time, decluttering my office, posting on my Instagram language practice page, planning trips and organising meet ups with friends.
The purpose of that rather exhausting-sounding list was not (only) to show off how productive I’ve been this week, but to highlight that it’s a pretty ridiculous group of things to do all in one week. Why did I start all of this now? Could I not have started some of these things in December, or before? You might notice that in one week I did a lot of “starting” things, which is customary for the start of a new year for many, but why? On creating this list and, to my surprise, actually achieving it with some ease, I realised that if I want it to be, then “every day is New Year’s Day”. This new mantra reminds me that I don’t have to wait until next January 1st to start new things. If I find myself in a place where I need a reset I can just do it, there is no need to wait for a specific time of year, or even a specific time of day. An afternoon reset – my favourite kind! The amount of days I would not have had to ruin if I had only allowed myself an afternoon reset.
I am not saying that I plan to start this many new things every week. However, one frustrating thing I have found about my New Year’s Resolution’s is that every year they are pretty much the same. In one sense, this reassures me that what I’m working towards is a reflection of what I really want and that those goals are important enough to me that they keep coming back year after year. However, it does frustrate me that I start them with so much gusto in January and then often by April they have petered out. This is because the journey from January to April never seems to match the ambitious speed of growth I envisioned, so I give up. Nonetheless, when I stop completely halfway through the year due to lack of motivation, the growth I saw at the start of the year then drops to nothing at all at the end. And of course, whilst it was “imperfect”, the period of the year I’m most proud of is still January to April. If only I had kept going, I think, I was doing so well!
This is why I can’t keep waiting for New Year’s Day to remind myself of my goals and to reflect on how far I’ve come. Whilst I do often end the year disappointed that I have not met some really specific goals that I set the year before, I do, admittedly, always feel proud of myself for reaching other unexpected milestones or still making moves towards my goals, even if I didn’t get as far as I thought. This year, I’ve decided, I’m going to feel proud of myself all year long. Proud of myself for making moves towards my goals, even if I am not living up to my (I am told) too high expectations.
Fellow goal-setters and New Year’s enthusiasts out there, can you relate? Do you want to join me on making every day New Year’s Day, or does the constant reset sound exhausting? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
If it wasn’t clear, writing a blog entry was also on my list to achieve this week, so here I am. I’ve decided that if I really am going to have a go at moving instead of giving up when things aren’t exactly how I want them to be, I have to lose the perfectionism. So, here it is, my new and very imperfect stream-of-conciousness blog! Maybe the well-researched, academic, and very time-consuming articles will be published from my drafts someday, but for today, we are just moving.
Linggow 