The no-resolution revolution

Have you got all of your New Year’s resolutions sorted? Raring to go? Or are you procrastinating on what you want to do? For many people, the New Year involves making a list of all the things we want to do over the coming 12 months. Many people choose to stop a certain (usually ‘bad’) activity, some start something new or vow to find a new job or look for opportunities in your current one. We begin with good intentions but how long do they last? For most of us, we’re lucky to make it to the end of January. This year  I want to start a no-resolution revolution.

Some years ago I came across the idea of saying no to New Year’s resolutions and instead only choosing positive changes, adding to my life instead of taking away or eliminating altogether. Last year I chose five things I wanted to change:

  1. creating a monthly challenge
  2. living in the present
  3. carrying out random acts of kindness
  4. celebrating my successes
  5. making time for me

I have to say that it was a pretty good year overall and looking back I achieved these positive changes, and a few more. There was definitely a theme of “you can’t pour from an empty cup” and for me personally there was a theme of embracing everything – literally (family and friends) and figuratively (fears, opportunities). I found the importance of self-care, being flexible, asking for help and receiving that support from my tribe.

This year will build on what I learnt in last year. It has given me a good grounding and I want to drill down further into a few areas and add in some more positive changes so for the year ahead my five things are:

  1. Listen – my overall theme for the year. To me, it means listening to myself (my intuition, wisdom, insights – whatever you call it) but also to those around me. Putting down the technology, having connected conversations and being present.
  2. Nurture – I saw that a lady I follow (Kim Cooper) had a theme of nurture and it really resonated with me. I have two small children to nurture but in addition, there are my clients, my business, these non-resolutions and myself. By nurturing all my relationships they will continue to flourish. How am I going to do it? – well, I’ll be: listening, disconnecting with technology and reconnecting with people I love, finding flow in the tasks and focusing on each one. In addition, I will be practising self-care to keep my mind, body and soul nourished.
  3. Acceptance – from accepting that a thought is just a thought, no more or less to accepting my limits and being grateful for them. Life is not about being perfect, it’s about being authentic and taking the rough with the smooth. Everything changes – positive and negative and one cannot force either. As a good friend of mine pointed out in her end of year reflection – it is what it is.
  4. Opening up to opportunities – one thing that being grateful teaches me is that there are opportunities everywhere. A small caveat: it helps that I am an optimist here. However, this isn’t about positive thinking either…you can’t force yourself to think positively (well, not for any length of time) but you CAN learn to build gratitude and thereby see the positives even when you thought there weren’t any. There is an element of saying yes here – not to everything of course or we lose the element of self-care but to things which scare us. Say yes to things you want to do – that excite you.
  5. Trusting my instincts – it took motherhood for me to learn about my instincts (and to trust them). Now I am in tune with them much more from everything to saying the right thing (or shutting up and listening) to making decisions in my business. It is a work in progress and the more I realise that my intuition is always there and to find it underneath all that thinking…well it could be my best year yet!

After a bit more reflection I’m going to add that I will be also trying to keep things simple in my approach and not over-complicating things. I’ll be decluttering across my whole life, home and business to give me space to think and breathe.

Remember that these aren’t resolutions, they are small, regular positive changes. I will forget, I will fail sometimes but the intentions are there and I know that they will bring me back. I learned that last year.

I’ll be sharing my insights and progress throughout the year, you can hold me accountable and I am happy to reciprocate! Share the changes you will be making this year below or over in the LinkedIn group and join the no-resolution revolution. Happy New Year to you all!

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