Have you read the latest headlines? It’s a new year, new you! New Year’s Resolution time! UUURRRGHHH!!!
(Eye roll).
Despite what the magazines tell me, I am the same person on the 1st of January as I was on the 31st of December. It’s not a new me and that’s okay!
Having said this, as the year draws to a close I have been thinking about where the year has taken me and where I want to go next year. When pondering this topic, it’s hard not to think about the new years resolutions I made 12 months ago and whether I met them… In short – no, not all of them.
But why didn’t I meet them?
- Were they a bit vague and unrealistic? Maybe.
- Did day-to-day life get in the way? Yep!
- Did I factor the work needed to achieve them into my day-to-day life? Nope.
- Was I expecting myself to be better than I was last year? Pretty much.
I know that my biggest pitfall with setting new years’ resolutions (or any goal for that matter) is the expectation that I will be more, do more and achieve more than I am able to be, do or achieve now. Granted, I do spend time watching Netflix when I could be learning french or baking bread from scratch. But part of making goals is being realistic with what you can and will, feasibly, do.
So rather than setting those unrealistic goals, I am going to base ‘new year’ Clare on ‘current year’ Clare (because they are the same person) and I invite you to do the same.
Past you.
What did you achieve last year? What were the tough times? What are you grateful for?
Taking the time to look back on the year can help put things into perspective. I sometimes feel like I haven’t achieved anything from a fitness perspective. But I have maintained consistency over the course of the year – which is actually an achievement.
It doesn’t have to be about diet or exercise either. What is something that you worked really hard to get done? What did you do to get there?
For me, in this particular year:
- I rode my bike to work more often (a couple of times a month excluding winter)
- I started full-time work at The Hub
- I ran a half marathon (very ill prepared)
- I went to my first nutrition conference
- I saved some money
Present you.
While I’m not wanting you to have an existential crisis, I think it’s good to reflect on what makes you you. Rather than perpetually comparing ourselves to others, think about what you like and dislike and how you want to behave. What’s your philosophy on life? Are you an introvert or extrovert? Whatever the answers are, let them be things that you are okay with.
For me:
- I am naturally happy and positive but I can’t force it or fake it
- I am not over the top
- I like being social, but I recharge by being alone
- I want exercise that feels fun and/or easy
- I think food and eating healthy is important so I plan it into my week
- Beyond that, food is for enjoyment
- I like to live in the moment and constantly forget about my phone, email and social media (much to my family’s dismay)
And I’m okay with all of these things!
Future you.
So now we know our past selves and our present selves, let’s figure out what our future selves might achieve.
What do you want? What things are you not happy with? What would it look like to be happy with those things?
But do this realistically! There is no point me saying that I want to ride my bike to work everyday when I know that I actually don’t. I would hate that. I would be shattered by the end of the week and I would have to either buy 5 sets of riding kit or wash everyday. Yuck!
Based on what I achieved last year, I can try and build on that in a small way. I can aim to ride my bike once a week or just aim to keep riding over winter.
Pick small goals. Pick easy goals. Pick goals that based on what you CAN do.
Plan.
You might have noticed that it’s easy to look back on the past year and see exactly what you did and didn’t do. This because you can see exactly all things that made them happen. I ran a half marathon because I looked it up, paid for my registration and I ran occasionally to train. But I didn’t reach my goal of running it in under 2 hours because I didn’t train consistently.
Now we have to apply that principle to our goals in the future.
If I want to run my half marathon in under 2 hours what do I have to do?… train. I can look back on last year and see that I didn’t train because finding the time for a particular training program was hard. So this year I have to look at my weeks realistically and say what I can/can’t/will/won’t do. Instead of running on a Tuesday I’ll ride my bike to work. I can’t run in the morning on a Wednesday so I’ll make that a rest day. So on and etcetera.
If there is something you want to happen in the new year, figure out what you need to do to MAKE it happen!
Persist.
Persistence beats resistance!
There will be interruptions and complications – That’s life! Know that ahead of time and don’t beat yourself up about it. But don’t throw in the towel either! There must be a reason you have set this particular goal; remind yourself of that reason and persist.
Even if you don’t quite achieve all your grand plans, you will achieve several small milestones on the way! And the ‘new year’ you will be the same as ‘last year’ you, just with some more experiences under your belt.
At The Healthy Eating Hub, we do things a little differently.
Our Membership program is all about building long term habits so that any new years resolutions you make can be permanently built into your life! If you’re over quick fixes and keen to build your healthy lifestyle one step at a time, then this program might be for you!
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