The great thing about a New Year is we get to make a fresh start. The not-so-great thing about a New Year is we get to make a fresh start. Which we often abandon within a month or so. We then feel guilty or bad about ourselves for not being able to stick with whatever it was.
But what if you took a different tack? What if, instead of – or in addition to – your usual New Year’s resolutions, you took a look at what of yourself you are bringing to this party called 2023? Not focusing so much on what you intend to do, rather on what you intend to do it with?
Namely, you. How about your best self, the best of you? The courageous, forward-thinking, hopeful, enthusiastic you? Instead of the worried, fearful, anxious, doubting you. Which, by the way, is the you that stops you from fully accomplishing those New Year action-oriented intentions, like losing weight, making it to the gym regularly, going for that promotion, saving enough for that new pre-owned car, and so on.
Make a list of your best characteristics. The ones you’d like to bring to your endeavor, such as hopefulness, confidence, curiosity, willingness, eagerness and positivity. Do the very best you can to line yourself up with any one or more of these aspects of yourself before you set out to accomplish your action-oriented intention of the day. Now you can meet whatever you are engaging in with your best self, your heroic self (yes, you have one), the self that will make you proud.
Then, this may very well be the year when you keep those New Year’s resolutions beyond month one, month two – who knows, maybe for the whole of 2023!
Noelle C. Nelson, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist, consultant, popular speaker and author of over a dozen best-selling books. Dr. Nelson focuses on how we can all enjoy happy, fulfilling lives while accomplishing great things in love, at home and at work, as we appreciate ourselves, our world and all others. She is the author of "Phoenix Rising: Surviving Catastrophic Loss: Fires, Floods, Hurricanes and Tornadoes" and “The Longevity Secret, How to Live Happy, Healthy & Vibrant Into Your 70s, 80s, 90s and Beyond” (Amazon Kindle). Visit www.noellenelson.com, https://www.facebook.com/MeetTheAmazings, #MeetTheAmazings, @drnoellenelson, and listen to her podcast Up! Uplifting, Inspiring, Practical on Spotify, Google Podcasts and on YouTube.