The Holidays
I love this time of year. I love the slowness that life takes on once Christmas is over. I have to remind myself that the holidays are a season, not a day. It is not a build up to one day, but it is a whole bunch of little memories and traditions and experiences that create a season. And when Christmas is over, the season is not yet finished. There is still time to enjoy the festivities, but without a lot of the pressure. This last week or so of the season can be filled with a sigh of relief and relaxation. It is a time filled with friends and family and movies and quiet time. But it is also a time to reflect on the past year and maybe even start thinking about the year ahead.
I like to spend this final week of the year thinking about the successes and failures of the past year. It can be hard to see the times I didn’t do what was best, but it can also feel amazing to think about the times I did our best and especially to see the good things that came from that. And hopefully, looking back I can leave this year behind with more positives than negatives.
After I have spent some time opening up the wounds and smiling over all the awesome memories, I start to think about the person I want to be in one year from today. I know she will fail and fall hard, but I also know that her good days can be great. My way of having a teeny tiny bit of control for 2018, is to start setting goals. I am not a big fan of resolutions, which literally means a firm decision to do or not do something. On the other hand, goals are something you work towards. Goals, by definition are the destination of a journey and the object of a persons effort. I choose to take a journey.
Goal setting isn’t quite as easy as just saying you want to do something. To set an honest goal that you hope to achieve you will need to make it specific. Saying you want to be stronger is not specific, saying you want to do a strict bodyweight chin up is specific. Next you will need to ask yourself if it is realistic. Once you have those two figured out, then start mapping out a timeline. When do you want accomplish your goal? And how much time are you going to invest daily or weekly to get to your goal. And again those answers need to be realistic and specific.
The most important part of goal setting is accountability. Nobody is going to do the work for you and some days are going to feel great and easy and other days are going to feel hard and horrible. On those negative days, it helps a lot to have someone else remind you of your successes and your hard work. It will help to keep things in prospective and remind your self that it is a journey and you are working towards something. Every struggle brings you closer to your destination, and every accomplishment is another step in the right direction.
This time of year I find that most of us are yearning for motivation and structure. We have drank more, ate more and exercised less than we had hoped this past month or two. Our first instinct is to punish ourselves for our short comings of the holiday season. And even though the motivation is there, a lot of times the restrictiveness and harshness of the resolutions can cause us to fail shortly into the new year. Don’t avoid the drive of the new year, embrace it. But think about what is realistic in the long term, think about the goals you want to be successful at on February first and September first. Go on the journey this year and see where it takes you.
My goals for 2018
*Spend no more than 30 minutes a day on social media
*Stretch for 5 minutes 5 evenings a week
*Write at least 5 minutes 5 days a week
I don’t expect to be perfect but I do expect to be working towards my goals all year.