The new year is here and some of us are already struggling to keep up with our New Year resolutions. Just like everyone else, you’ve started the year with a list of goals and ambitions containing a ton of things you want to rediscover or start for the first time.
But sadly, you’ve barely found time to breathe, let alone focus on your New Year resolutions. Which means by now you’ve probably started being hard on yourself for your lack of consistency or even starting the task, and you might even start feeling like a failure. But I want you to know, it’s okay if you haven’t started or don’t complete every item on your list. Don’t be chained and feel suffocated by your resolutions instead, I want you to leave a little room for magic.
What does leaving room for magic mean?
It means as a human being you are allowed to take frequent breaks and enjoy your current life. Of course, New Year resolutions are important to you, but you shouldn’t miss out on small joys in life in the pursuit to fulfill your resolutions. It’s fine if goals don’t go the way you planned or you end up not doing them at all. Yes, it’s essential to have some goals that help you improve yourself and you quality of your life. But your resolutions shouldn’t chain you down completely. They shouldn’t become the reason why you are constantly stressed feeling like you’re not doing enough.
I’ve been in this situation and until recently, I was really hard on myself about it. Imagine being hard on yourself about not doing enough during a pandemic when your only goal is trying to survive. I told myself repeatedly it was okay and that I would eventually resume those projects, and if I didn’t then they weren’t for me. But recently, I slowly but surely felt the spark again and I’ve allowed the magic to take hold and guide me back to plans.
This is what it’s all about. Letting things happen naturally in whatever direction it takes you in. Allow yourself to focus on other things besides your resolutions and treat them like something that you know will improve your life. That’s the magic.
Can I leave room for magic AND accomplish some goals?
Absolutely! If you really want to try and stick to your New Year resolutions you just need to plan. Not obsessively because if you’re obsessive about your plan you’re definitely not leaving room for magic. All you need is a flexible, keyword there, step-by-step plan that you can follow to help you work towards your yearly goals. The purpose of planning, as you might already know, makes the process a lot less overwhelming, which is always a nice thing.
The last thing that you need to remember is to keep it simple. For example, instead of setting a goal to read 100 books in a year, start by setting a goal to read a couple of minutes each day. Don’t focus on the amount of time you read but the idea you took time to do it. And if you couldn’t read one day because you went out with friends or you took an online hobby class or you just didn’t feel like it, that’s fine. It doesn’t mean you failed your goal. You’ll read the next day.
Simple also means putting things on your resolution list that you have an interest in. Nothing on your list should feel like a burden so be sure to include things that you truly enjoy doing which will help you accomplish tasks on your list.
