Ringing in the new year is a magical time — a kiss at midnight, the clinking of glasses, and picture-perfect smiles as we welcome a fresh start. We make plans, envisioning exactly how we’ll do better and be better, and we call them New Year’s resolutions.
I used to make a list of them, noting all the ways I would avoid making mistakes and all the ways I should change.
I don’t know about you, but I stopped having fun while making unrealistic expectations for myself at the start of the year only to feel like a failure by the end. So on Dec. 31, 2023, I decided to do away with New Year’s resolutions. Instead, I decided to make myself one new promise and set one realistic goal for myself.
I like to consider myself someone who keeps promises, or at the very least, really strives to. It’s not so much out of obligation, but because it’s how I show that I value the person I’m making the promise to.
I noticed I was taking away value from myself by setting impractical goals and was not treating myself well when I couldn’t achieve them. As the saying goes, you can’t love anybody else if you don’t love yourself. So, I chose to treat myself with a little more kindness and to see where that takes me instead.
I made a promise that I would treat myself better this year and I made a goal to be open to trying new things. Yes, both are rather generic, and had I made New Year’s resolutions, they would have been more specific.
By having an open and generic goal, I was constantly hitting it in different ways. And in doing that, I was constantly motivated to continue to find ways to hit the goal. I’ve noticed real change in myself as a result and will officially be done with resolutions.
This year, I’ve made and achieved far more goals than in previous years, and I’ve managed to keep my promise. For example, “quit smoking” has been at the top of my list of New Year’s resolutions every year for as long as I can remember. Every year I failed, and went into the next year worried I’d fail again.
This year, I quit smoking.
Another huge problem I had was eating like my 5-year-old child. I’d tell myself I didn’t like something, never try it, and eat chicken fingers at a new restaurant to be safe.
This year, I didn’t tell myself I had to “try five new things,” like I would if I were making resolutions. When an opportunity to try something new presented itself, I did it. It was a FUN goal! I tried new foods, new experiences, made new friends, and I loved almost everything. What I didn’t, I was proud of myself for trying.
Heading into a new year I feel like a new me, and I’m excited to see all the ways I can grow and change in 2025.
I will ring in the year feeling proud, and accomplished, and will truly celebrate for the first time. I will reflect on the mistakes I made, considering them as I make a new promise and new goal, and I will try my best to be better.
“New year, new me” is all the plan I need as I close off this chapter of my life and welcome a new one. I hope you’ll consider doing away with resolutions, negativity, and fear of failure.
Let the new year always bring you hope, inspiration, and happiness instead.
Read CityView magazine’s “New Year New You” January 2025 e-edition here.
