New Years resolutions…(or lack of them)!

So, it’s a new year! 2022! I think many of us are grateful to say goodbye to another turbulent year. We all hoped that COVID would a memory by the end of 2021, yet here it is, seemingly more widespread than ever! But, hopefully most of us got to at least spend Christmas with our loved ones this year, and at the moment, we have very few restrictions in place (in England anyway!). Regardless of what’s going on around us, the new year always brings that age old fun topic…’New Years resolutions’.

Now I am not a fan of them, I’ve tried them, I’ve failed. Every.Single.Year!

This year, I thought I could actually make it work! I’m getting older and wiser, I’m a Mum now, I’m grown up, I can surely stick to a very simple resolution. For the final month of 2021, I knew I needed to gear myself up to it, motivate myself in order to succeed. So I spent the time mentally preparing myself to achieve one new years resolution…just one, I knew that any more than that would be too ambitious!

One resolution, I could do that! Surely?! Apparently not.

My new years resolution was to practice yoga everyday. Yes I know everyday sounds a little excessive to some. However I love yoga, it hugely benefits my mind and my body, so I decided that I could manage just 5 minutes a day, even if it was a simple stretch in the morning or evening before getting into bed. It would be good for me! I’m now writing this on 3rd January, 3 days into the new year…and the total number of minutes I have spent doing yoga so far…a big fat 0!

How am I ever going to stick to a resolution for a whole year if I can’t even do it for the first 3 days!?

The simple answer is, I’m not. I probably was never going to, and I’m sure that (even after motivating myself for a month beforehand) I was actually never going to manage it. Am I disappointed? A little. Am I surprised? Not in the slightest. So…rather than sit here and be upset about it, I have been sat thinking about the things that I managed to succeed in over the past year.

Firstly, I started using Tropic skincare in an effort to improve my skin for my all important wedding photos (I got married on 28th December 2021!). This, was a great success! I didn’t quite realise that my skin was as bad as it was, but I am very happy with my new skincare routine and I know it’s definitely something that I’m going to continue in 2022! Can I go back and change this to a new years resolution?! One that I started back in October?! I’m going to say yes!

Secondly, and probably the biggest change of all, was my new business. Embrace began in 2021! This time last year, I had no idea that I would be in this position now. I knew I needed a change, I needed something different with my career and my life, but I had no idea of what was about to happen. Can a new career be a new years resolution? I’m going to say yes!

Woohoo! That’s two new years resolutions that I am sticking to! (One rather minor, the other rather major!)

Whatever your thoughts about new years resolutions, whether they work for you or not, know this. We can make resolutions…any time of year! They don’t have to start on the 1st January, they don’t have to be big or ambitious, they can be whatever feels right for you and whatever you need at the time. Sometimes we need a little help to achieve them, sometimes we need motivation from others, but our dreams are possible. They are achievable if we take the pressure off. I think the reason my yoga resolution hasn’t worked yet, is because although I wanted to make it happen, I set an unrealistic goal at an unrealistic time. On January 1st I was still on my mini-moon. I’m currently catching up on sleep after a very busy few weeks and catching up on eating A LOT of chocolate after trying my best to steer clear of it before my wedding.

So, I’m not going to worry that I haven’t started yoga yet, but I am going to hope that at some point in 2022, I will get to it! Perhaps not everyday, but may be two/three times a week? May be…just may be!