Just Do You

I don’t usually make New Year’s resolutions, they’re not my thing. I find the idea of convincing myself I can achieve certain goals just because it’s January a ridiculous notion. Every year people talk of the things they will achieve in the coming year – they make tried lists of worn resolutions. Some vow to join the gym, to stop smoking or save to finally take the plunge and move out. While some whimsically dream of reading 365 books, or jumping on a plane with a one way ticket. Regardless of the goal we promise ourselves that we will make it happen. Telling ourselves that this year is our year.

Now don’t get me wrong there’s absolutely nothing wrong with making the commitment to better ourselves. Self-improvement is a great thing. But my argument is that as soon as we make these improvements part of some media driven craze for change they never quite seem to get off the ground.

I know all too well what happens to my New Year’s resolutions and I have a sneaky suspicion that I am not alone in my shortcomings. The end of the year comes to a huge crescendo and in a flutter of party streamers and fizzing champagne we head into the coming year with all good intentions. But then all too soon it’s January 1^st and with it comes a lagging sensation. In fact I couldn’t think of a worse month to implement change. January is cold, generally miserable and a massive come down from the festivities and merriment of December. It’s the month of tenuously checking your bank balance, of chowing down on beans on toast and nights in on the sofa with a bottle of cheap plonk. January is not the time to make hard and fast decisions and if you do it’s highly probable that come February 1^st you will have well and truly fallen off of the bandwagon.

As the month wears on it turns out that actually we don’t quite have time to read 365 books, can’t squeeze in four gym sessions a week while working full time and that they’re just aren’t enough hours in the day to become more mindful and centred, give back to charity and explore the world. Who knew?

Our well laid plans quickly become too much of an inconvenience to our day-to-day routines, and so we let them slide. We keep on as we have always been; smoking and over indulging, giving into the mid-week take away and skipping the gym, we watch mindless TV instead of fulfilling books and as a result we feel an overwhelming sense of failure. Until next year of course when the whole façade beckons again.

Well this year I’m saying no to resolutions, but yes to change. It takes less than sixty seconds to quit that job you hate, I know I’ve just done it! One click of the mouse to book those plane tickets. One burst of courage to jump head first into whatever it is you have been putting off. Take it from me you don’t need 365 days to come good on your goals, you don’t need a list, or a gym buddy or anything else we have been lead to believe we need to achieve our own personal triumphs. All you need is will – unfaltering fire and will. And the realisation that the date on your calendar has nothing to do with you or your dreams. So let January be January and make 2016 the year you do you, in your way and your own time! That way when December 31^st 2016 rolls around you will be able to look back on the year knowing you did all you could to be the best version of you possible. This year as the clock struck midnight I looked back on all I had achieved in 2015 and I got that feeling, and let me tell you it was incredible.