Resolutions For The New Year

Looking at your facebook feed in the first week of January can turn anyone into a prairie dog. With all the New Year resolutions fluff floating around, not even a vacuum cleaner can suck you out of your burrow if you allow the ambitiousness of your friends list to alarm you.

Making resolutions isn't such a bad thing, the key is not to make them so lofty that they become daunting or cumbersome to follow through, yet they should be definitive.

“New Year resolutions should not be mere wishes, but a very strong vision to achieve. Otherwise, we end up making newer and newer resolutions every year, achieving nothing,” believes Akshara Damle, Founder and Psychologist, Mano Samvaada.

“I feel it is important for everyone to rejuvenate and replenish oneself to face newer challenges that life poses. Though 1st January may appear as just another day for many, the broader idea of a new year resolution, as I perceive, is what one will do in the year 2018 so that when he/she looks back, they feel good about whatever they have done. In my view, a clarity of this kind will help to achieve the desired targets rather than go with the flow.”

“One of the important things people should follow is how to improve themselves from what they are in different areas. At the same time, everyone should think what one can contribute to the society so that it really creates an impact in the lives of the people. One can take up their interesting areas in the social sector and start working on them so that something concrete can be brought out by the end of the year,” shared Damle.

According to him, along with these, it is also important to leave some of the undesired aspects that are part of our personality/life.

“It may be leaving a habit or an addiction. Beginning and ending of the year help in keeping a timeline and measure the progress,” he said.

Psychologists have found we're more likely to succeed if we break our resolution into smaller goals that are specific, measurable and time-based.

Break your goal into a series of steps, focusing on creating sub-goals that are concrete, measurable and time-based.

Some New Year Resolutions to consider:

1. Start eating healthier food, less food overall and adopt a fitness regime: 

It’s easy enough to start an exercise and diet program, but the trick is to find a decent one that will give you steady results and will be easy to stick to in the long run. Make small changes like introducing fruits and vegetables into your diet and a daily walk, and slowly up the ante. Make a monthly agenda of your goals and keep adding to the list.

2. Meet new people:

When we get stuck in a rut, we usually end up staying at home when we are not working, missing out on a lot of interesting opportunities for networking and having fun. Meeting new people can be beneficial to your mental well-being and also help you with your work, so don’t be afraid to get out there and make some friends. Overcome your shyness, get out of your comfort zone and go get to know some new and interesting people.

3. Face your fears and insecurities: 

Fear and insecurity are often the cause of several problems. Think of surviving and controlling your fear rather than overcoming it, this will enable you to shed a lot of the insecurities that you have. Life will always keep throwing situations at you that will elicit fear and anxiety, finding and maintaining the balancing act is what will help you remain centered. Freedom lies on the other side of fear. Make this a core endeavor and central theme of your personal resolve. One day at a time. Mark a tick on your calendar when you face a demon.

4. Start writing a book/journal:

Make your plans and progress concrete by keeping a handwritten journal, creating a computer spreadsheet or covering a notice board with graphs or pictures. A vision board is very helpful.

5. Change your patterns:

Learn to let go of grudges and avoid moping. Rid yourself of toxic people thoughts and behaviours. I have decided to try and let go of my useless anger. I am going to try to forgive, forget, accept and let live more.

Work on your confidence levels and the patterns of your personal narrative. Do things that make you feel better about yourself like avoiding negative self-talk, connecting with people who love you, learning to be assertive, setting yourself a challenge, focusing on your positives and utmost is taking care of yourself and listening to that inner voice each time it pipes up.

6. Spend less time married to the screen:

Everyday set aside time to “face look” people not “face book”. TV, playing video games and social media have become a serious addiction among a wide range of demographics. It’s fine to stay in touch with friends and family, but if you consistently spend more than an hour every day on social media, it’s time to make a change.

Unless you're eating dinner alone and you feel too awkward to just sit in silence, keep your phone face down on the table. If you can't even handle having your phone in arms reach then why not just put it in your bag? Nothing looks douchier than a table full of people all looking at their phones until their food arrives. Endeavour to honour people you are with this year, and don't be that table.

7. Spend more time with the people that matter: 

Don’t waste your time on insincere, duplicitous and toxic people this year. Focus on people whom you care about deeply and who care about you. Make a concerted effort to carve out time for those who matter to you. Glorifying being busy is the most unattractive quality in another human being. Making a conscious effort to be genuinely “present” when you spend time with your loved ones is the biggest present you can give them today.

8. Create time for yourself:

While it's important to create time for our loved ones it is even more important to make time for ourselves. If you don’t love and care for yourself, no one else is going to do it. Take out time everyday to tune out and switch off. It could be as simple as meditating for a few minutes a day, to taking a run, to learning a new dance form or learning a new sport. The long and short of it is that it is your guilt-free indulgence time.

9. Volunteer and give more to charity:

To devote your time and energy to helping those in need. Humans and animals is a noble gesture and a reward in itself, it is also an opportunity to meet new people, learn new skills and unearth dormant facets of your personality. Receiving gives us pleasure, but giving, presents us joy. Make time to volunteer in your busy life on a regular basis, the fruits are invaluable, just knowing that you are making a difference.

10. Promote adoption of strays:

There are hundreds and thousands of homeless beings in our country, while we cant give shelter to all the homeless people, do consider adopting and fostering animals amongst other charitable things that you do.

There are lakhs of animals languishing at animal shelters who are need of a home, while people are busy breeding and buying animals. Even if you are not in a position to adopt, spread the word and condemn breeding.

The love that an animal gives you is unconditional, it opens up your heart in ways that no human can. Promote adoption in your circles. If we all resolve to adopt and not shop, so many animals will be off the streets.

Expect to revert to your old habits from time to time. Treat any failure as a temporary setback rather than a reason to give up altogether.

Tell your friends and family about your goals. You're more likely to get support and want to avoid failure.

 Create a beautiful year, one day at a time.