Happy New Year!
I hope you all had a great Christmas, and are looking forward to the coming year. I love January, it’s like a blank slate that you can use to plan out 52 weeks of enjoyment, growth and progress.
However, with that comes the dreaded New Year’s Resolutions. Hands up: who hasn’t, at one time or another, started the year with a list full of worthy intentions: working out more, cutting out certain food or drink, changing job or career, or doing whatever that thing is that you’ve intended to do for the last 10 years but have never gotten around to?
I use the word ‘dreaded’ about resolutions because that’s what a lot of people think they are. Statistically, New Year’s Resolutions don’t work! According to a ComRes Poll for Bupa, 63% of us don’t stick to them. Of that 63%, almost half of us don’t even manage a full month!
Which makes me ask the question, why are we setting ourselves up to fail? So often the idea of a New Years Resolution is to do with denial (cutting out foods we enjoy), or creating hard work for ourselves (going to the gym 3 times a week even though you hate it). Why do we do that to ourselves? It’s like we’ve decided that after the joys of the festive season we need to punish ourselves!
I find it’s a far more productive use of our New Year momentum to set ourselves goals and intentions. Reframe things to see the positives you can bring by making changes: by eating and drinking better, you’re giving your body the fuel it needs to stay strong and healthy. If you really don’t like going to the gym, find something you do like doing and think about how great it makes you feel. A friend of mine was going to start the Couch to 5K journey again, even though she doesn’t enjoy running and after 5 times of trying it, she’s never reached the end.
You need to be really clear on your ‘why’ when you’re creating goals. If you’re doing (for example), Couch to 5k because everyone else is and your friends are encouraging you to do it, but you don’t really want to, then that’s why one would fail: the reason isn’t strong enough to see it through. We need to create goals around things that are meaningful to us and will serve our needs.
My friend has now set herself the goal of going for a walk in her nearby park every day – the movement and fresh air make her feel loads better and she’s getting some great pictures of the local wildlife for her Instagram!
If you’re not sure where to start, take some time to reflect on the last year (if you haven’t already) and think about the things you want to leave firmly in 2023 – maybe you didn’t take enough time for yourself to rest and recharge, or perhaps you often found yourself worn out by toxic people and situations. Recognise any patterns or habits and create some strategies to stop them repeating.
Think about what you’d like to achieve by the end of 2024. Be specific, and make sure they point towards a positive outcome – focus on what you’re adding to your life rather than having a perception of loss or lack.
To help you think big and plan out your year, why not treat yourself to my Amor Cacao Manifestation box? It’s a beautiful and truly unique set, with both physical and downloadable features, including 3x sachets of Cacao, Adaptogenic coffee, a future visioning planner and productivity planner, a guided meditation to connect to your highest future potential, and a guided visualisation about ideal future self, plus much more. It’s available to buy on my online shop (just click the button below).
This is a great time to start manifesting for the things you want, so go ahead and treat yourself!
