2021 Goals - Take 2
We are now into the second month of the not so new New Year. For those who have school aged children, regular schooling is back on again and for the others, even the extended break is over. In short, 2021 has started for real.
33 days ago, many made a commitment to so called ‘New Year’s Resolutions’. Remember those? Exercise more/regularly, eat/drink less, find ‘me’ time, get organised, learn a new skill, quite smoking, spend more time with family and friends. How long did that excitement and commitment last? Congratulations if you got them off the ground and are still working on them! I know how hard it can be. I committed to 45 minutes of yoga, 1 chapter in a book that enhances and supports my learning and 45 minutes of mediation, Monday to Friday, starting on January 4th. As of today, that would be 22 days. And what have I honestly achieved? Yoga 19/22, learning 18/22, mediation 20/22. Not half bad and well on the way of making those resolutions a habit.
Why did I not fall off the band wagon?
Firstly, these resolutions were important to me, and not just on a superficial level. Yoga supports many other activities that I undertake, such as climbing and hiking, plus it helps with my posture as, like many of us, I have work that involves a lot of sitting down. By taking a structured approach to learning - one chapter normally takes 20-30 minutes - I don’t overwhelm myself with too much information and give myself time to digest what I read. Plus it’s short enough to not be tedious and occasionally I even find myself wanting to read more, but I save that for the next day. Mediation helps me keep calm and collected and it’s important ‘me’ time, time that I spend solely focused on myself, time where I can just be ‘me’. After 2020, it’s like a small daily holiday get away.
Secondly, my decision making process was sound. The goals I have are primarily intrinsic and develop internal resources. As such, they are a reward in themselves, there is no better, higher or more that I am competing with. My goals are sustainable and liveable and I am ready to live and experience them. I have made an assessment of available time and the time these resolutions require on a daily basis, so they don’t increase stress levels. And I have set times for them throughout the day.
Thirdly, on those days where, in spite of all scheduling efforts and importance, it just didn’t come together, I made a conscious decision not to follow my resolutions, they didn’t just fall by the wayside. What I needed to attend to instead was based on a solid decision making process of urgency, pros, cons, and truly available time. I was also accepting that I was fallible and that this did not make me a bad or non-committal person. I would not blame myself, but promise myself to get back to the commitment the next day. The funny thing about those days where I didn’t get to do what I had set out to do - and yes, I get to do them, I have the choice and the opportunity - I acutely missed them.
Lastly, I have a vision board that keeps me on track, that inspires and helps me get started when I have one of those days when I am sitting on the fence. At yes, that happens to me too. That feeling of satisfaction of having stretched, learned and looked after myself though, especially on those days, puts a smile on my face, a spring in my step and makes me ready to deal with whatever the day has to offer.