16 Dec 2020

Since I knew new year’s resolutions were a thing, I’ve been making them. Each year, without fail, I come up with a new little list of the stuff I want to do in the new year. You know, creating meaningful new year's resolutions because that's what you do on new year's eve and new year's day, right? Occasionally I even post a ‘new year, come at me’ photo on Insta with a caption about how I’m ‘changing’.

And every year, again, without fail, I have gotten a couple of weeks into the new year and already failed abysmally to keep any of the promises I made to myself.

But this year I’m calling it – I’m not sh*t, new year’s resolutions are.

Here’s why.

 

First up, why are we welcoming the new year with a comprehensive list of all the things we want to change about ourselves? Straight up we’re undermining any of our achievements over the past year and setting ourselves unrealistic goals for the next one.

We picking out every flaw and trying to find an overarching way to fix them. Is that really the kind of mindset you want to kick 2021 off with?

Why aren’t we learning from our mistakes? Year in, year out this happens all over the country. Resolutions are made, gyms are joined –until it all falls apart and we end up back in bed, watching the latest Netflix series and feeling like a failure.

The promise of a fresh start seems to make us all think that now is the time to make big changes; massive, life altering, promises that will somehow make us better people if we manage to keep them. And there is something incredibly hopeful about welcoming in the new year; about forgetting about all the shit the past 365 days have thrown as you and getting the chance to make the coming days better.

But when we sum up this hopefulness into a list of what to do to make things better, everything seems to go wrong.

Maybe we need to start making our resolutions more realistic and make plans to stick to them? That's where our Post-School Planner comes in. If you're wanting to start off the new year by working towards a career your passionate about, we got you dw. By asking some q's that dig deep into your talents, values, interests and personality, our Post-School Planner will give you some guidance on careers that suit you and exactly how to get there!

I’m here to tell you that if you want to change something, you don’t need the new year’s eve countdown to do it. Cut your hair, start waking up with the sunrise and getting into bed before 2am. Buy a plane ticket, book a holiday and look for a new job. Call your grandparents instead of just saying you’ll do it and pick up a book and start reading instead of promising yourself you’ll get through 50 in the next year.

Actually do it. Do it in small manageable ways. Go to sleep early, stop hitting snooze in the morning and take the stairs instead of the escalator. Do it–not because a list is telling you but because you want to. You’ll be surprised at how much you accomplish.