Simple, fun resolutions

I’VE BEEN shopping for New Year’s resolutions. They have to be special resolutions that honour the tradition and reflect the fact that this has been one of the most challenging years of our lives. I know the goals have to be unique and give a feeling of hope and accomplishment during this covid19 struggle when we feel little control over our lives, and I know they must be SMART goals.

I began my search on the internet with Julia Malacoff’s article, 10 Unexpected New Year’s Resolutions That Will Actually Make Your Life Better, featured on instyle.com. She turns some typical resolutions into cool, new ideas by suggesting practical, uplifting resolutions that offer a semblance of freedom, like “commit to only exercise you actually like” or “buy clothes that fit now.”

New Year’s resolutions at Country Living.com include “write snail mail,” “drink more water,” “try something new each month” and “journal one line a day.”

I found five-year journals available for order that set up a page so that you can practise writer Ernest Hemingway’s advice to write one good sentence. What a cool challenge to reflect on every day in one sentence and then be able to compare what you wrote over five years.

It’s important to consider goals that can be turned into SMART goals. SMART is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely.

At Good Housekeeping I discovered 57 Best New Year’s Resolutions. Out of the many interesting suggestions, I felt drawn to “take back your lunch break.” Even in retirement, I find I choke down my lunch to get back to work. I pretend to go to my own office every day, and I have conditioned myself over the years to never take a lunch break. Why can’t that hour lunch break be spent on something relaxing and enjoyable.

From this website I also like “give yourself more compliments” and “ease stress with kindness.” Believe me, kind acts do release stress and boost happiness. We all lean towards self-criticism rather than praise.

The daring to live fully.com’s New Year’s resolutions really push the envelope and demand you devote some attention to making them SMART goals. Take, for instance, the resolution “set aside an hour every day to achieve your dream.” That could mean setting up a business plan, making business connections, finding a literary agency. How are you measuring that? It’s measurable if you say, “write a resume and query three literary agencies a week.” There are cool suggestions like “increase your charisma.” That could be a cool investigation with an action plan.

From this site also comes “be more conscientious,” “become more confident” and “create a positive attitude.” All three of these goals require some reading and research on your part to make them measurable goals.

Losing weight, finding a good relationship and reading more are often common new year’s goals. A good nutritionist helped me to understand how to eat more food to lose weight. I’ve lost 70 pounds and kept them off over three years now. If weight loss is your goal, you must understand that you cannot lose more than eight pounds of fat a month. You have to check out how many calories you burn with a nutritionist and get a personal plan from a good nutritionist and give up the notion of starvation diets.

Reading more is always a good goal. Goodreads allows you to set reading goals. You can set a theme to your goal. One year I decided to read at least one book on every US President. I made it through Donald Trump. You can decide to read five books in a genre you don’t usually read. The ideas are endless.

Covid19 has offered us the opportunity for self-reflection, empathy and self-improvement. It will be defining our lives for some time to come – at least until December 2021 – so there should be at least one resolution that feels like you’re tackling the constrains of covid19.

I’ve settled on some New Year’s resolutions that are SMART simple, creative, challenging and fun. They allow me to work on confidence and communication, indulge in self-improvement and feel productive and happy as we fight covid19.

Here are my resolutions:

1. Journal one line a day.

2. Take a lunch break.

3. Devote at least half hour a day to ancestry.com or Master classes.

4. Keep regular office hours for writing.

Remember to choose goals that resonate with you. Your goals don’t have to please anyone but yourself.

Wishing you a happy and productive New Year!