Hi Everyone
Welcome to the other side! It's 2019 - whoopee fucking doo!
I hope you had a great night last night. Me, I was tucked up in bed and fast asleep by 11pm whilst the majority of the rest of the world stayed awake for fireworks, midnight greetings and resolutions.
I am going to be honest - I have NEVER understood the whole new year hoopla. I get it from an ancient "movement of the planets" perspective, and I would probably have been quite excited in the Middle Ages, but right here, right now? No, no and no.
I always think there's something forced about New Year's Eve - you HAVE to go to an amazing party, you HAVE to get drunk, and you have to make bollocks promises. I'm not good with things that are expected of me, or that are hyped up by others, and I am not a big drinker and I hardly ever do parties.
My biggest problem though is with the cult of resolutions. Why? Why do we do this? Is it good to reflect and make changes? Absolutely. Is it good to only do it once a year, on a forced timescale? Absolutely not.
From an early age, I hated the whole "you need to pick a New Year's resolution" deal. Why do I HAVE TO???? With the lack of illumination of a child, I didn't think I needed to change at all, yet there was this weird expectation that I should. Worse, the suggestions that were being made to me were things I enjoyed, thank you very much - biting my nails, eating too many crisps, picking my nose ...
As the years go by, you realise this conversation is about people trying to iron out your faults, and it becomes quite insulting. Lose weight. Dry the dishes every night. Tidy your room once a week. No, no and no. Take your ideas and shove them up your arse. I am not going to change just because you want me to. That's not how it works!
Eventually of course, you mature, and sometimes you CHOOSE to make a resolution, but it didn't take me very long to get to the place I am now, a battleline I have fiercely defended for 20 years - if you want to make a change, don't fucking wait for New Year's Day to do it.
The great thing about change is that you can do it at any time. You can go big, you can go slow. You can be bold, you can be subtle. It doesn't require anyone else's timescale to do it. In fact, if you do it for any reason other than your own selfish desire, it won't work anyway.
For change to take root and become a habit and become a norm, it requires motivation. It needs a WHY. Compare the woman who wants to lose "some" weight to the bride-to-be who needs to drop 2 dress sizes. Only 1 of these women will be successful because she has a concrete, endlessly inspiring WHY.
We should never change for the sake of change. Change when you want to, or when you need to. Do it to please yourself, and commit to it 100%. It's never too early or too late to change, and you can do it as many times as you want. Just don't do it because someone else - or society - thinks you should.
Welcome to the other side! It's 2019 - whoopee fucking doo!
I hope you had a great night last night. Me, I was tucked up in bed and fast asleep by 11pm whilst the majority of the rest of the world stayed awake for fireworks, midnight greetings and resolutions.
I am going to be honest - I have NEVER understood the whole new year hoopla. I get it from an ancient "movement of the planets" perspective, and I would probably have been quite excited in the Middle Ages, but right here, right now? No, no and no.
I always think there's something forced about New Year's Eve - you HAVE to go to an amazing party, you HAVE to get drunk, and you have to make bollocks promises. I'm not good with things that are expected of me, or that are hyped up by others, and I am not a big drinker and I hardly ever do parties.
My biggest problem though is with the cult of resolutions. Why? Why do we do this? Is it good to reflect and make changes? Absolutely. Is it good to only do it once a year, on a forced timescale? Absolutely not.
From an early age, I hated the whole "you need to pick a New Year's resolution" deal. Why do I HAVE TO???? With the lack of illumination of a child, I didn't think I needed to change at all, yet there was this weird expectation that I should. Worse, the suggestions that were being made to me were things I enjoyed, thank you very much - biting my nails, eating too many crisps, picking my nose ...
As the years go by, you realise this conversation is about people trying to iron out your faults, and it becomes quite insulting. Lose weight. Dry the dishes every night. Tidy your room once a week. No, no and no. Take your ideas and shove them up your arse. I am not going to change just because you want me to. That's not how it works!
Eventually of course, you mature, and sometimes you CHOOSE to make a resolution, but it didn't take me very long to get to the place I am now, a battleline I have fiercely defended for 20 years - if you want to make a change, don't fucking wait for New Year's Day to do it.
The great thing about change is that you can do it at any time. You can go big, you can go slow. You can be bold, you can be subtle. It doesn't require anyone else's timescale to do it. In fact, if you do it for any reason other than your own selfish desire, it won't work anyway.
For change to take root and become a habit and become a norm, it requires motivation. It needs a WHY. Compare the woman who wants to lose "some" weight to the bride-to-be who needs to drop 2 dress sizes. Only 1 of these women will be successful because she has a concrete, endlessly inspiring WHY.
We should never change for the sake of change. Change when you want to, or when you need to. Do it to please yourself, and commit to it 100%. It's never too early or too late to change, and you can do it as many times as you want. Just don't do it because someone else - or society - thinks you should.
