12 Resolutions you’ll want to keep

 

It’s time to set goals and resolutions for the new year. I don’t know about you, but I’m chewing my lip a little. (Yes, I’m hankering for a Christmas cookie, but that’s beside the point.)

I can think of so many resolutions I should add to my list. Making them is easy. Keeping them is harder. Here’s why: it’s hard to keep resolutions that you don’t like.

Why would I cut out dessert, when I like dessert? Yes, I know, it’s bad for me. But isn’t there a part of all of us that loves doing “bad” things? Labeling something as harmful or dangerous or frivolous just makes it even more alluring and delightful.

What if I made some resolutions that I wanted to keep? What if I could make a difficult resolution alluring?

I suggest formulating some goals and resolutions that focus on positive changes instead of negative changes. When we make goals that deprive us of something, it makes us want that thing more. Here are 12 ideas. If you’re really organized and ambitious, pick one for each month and incorporate it into your routine. If you’re a normal person, just pick a few:

• Plan a trip to a place you’ve always wanted to go (maybe as a reward for a hard resolution).
• Resume a creative pastime or hobby you used to do as a child (it’s that thing you think about but never have time for); drop something you don’t love to make time for it.
• Volunteer in a charity or ministry that has impacted you or a family member (i.e. pay it forward).
• Perform a random act of kindness that you wish someone would do for you.
• Select a specific day each month (even better, each week) to rest completely; sit without working on the computer or reading emails/no checklists/no guilt.
• Do your most challenging resolution with a friend and develop a strategy together (i.e. lose weight, exercise, fast, etc.); spend your time together talking about what you love and what you have in common, not about how hard the resolution is.
• Go back to school or take a class in a subject you’re passionate about, even if you don’t have career goals for using it; the stimulation will inspire all areas of your life.
• Befriend someone who needs a friend instead of trying to make a new friend for yourself.
• Rather than spending money on clothes, décor, etc., stay home and put money you might have spent on shopping into a jar. Then use it for something amazing at the end of the year.
• Choose something hard/frightening to do every day or every week; reward yourself by blogging or journaling about it.
• Renew communication with one friendship that has grown apart.

Positive change positively affects us. Just find a few great things to do on a regular basis, and resolve to do them. You’ll feel better, and you’ll do more good. You might even start to enjoy attacking those necessary negative changes because you’ll have the positivity to expect results.

You might even throw away that cookie.