By Tiffy Kink via CurlyNikki
A new year is here and for many, it feels like a well-needed fresh start. And with that fresh start, comes resolutions. The biggest problem with New Year’s resolutions is that we have a tendency to set the same damn goals EVERY YEAR. Go to the gym more often, lose weight, eat healthier, procrastinate less, and be more charitable to others. What makes it worse is we set time frames around our resolutions, which brings about added stress and anxiety, which is why we usually don’t complete them. I also find that as you have a harder time sticking to your resolutions, you may start to experience what I call “new year burn out.” This occurs when you’re trying so hard to stick to your resolutions, that they become chores, rather than the inspiring moments you thought they would be. For these reasons, I want to share with you 5 Unconventional New Year’s Resolutions you’ll actually stick to in 2021 and beyond!
- Be selfish when you need to.
– Sometimes we are so wrapped up in ourselves and everything in between, that we don’t take the time out of the day to do something that thoroughly brings us joy. This could be anything from taking a walk, to a personal day/mental break, to perfecting a skill. It becomes less of a resolution and more of a task you look forward to doing, thus making it easy to stick to.
- Stop kee-keeing with people you don’t like.
We all want friends. But not at the cost of hanging out with people we don’t like. You don’t have to love everybody and everybody doesn’t have to love you. It’s okay to allow people to leave your life and okay to leave theirs when you don’t feel like you’re getting the same love you’re giving. One of our biggest issues is we don’t know how to be alone sometimes and that can translate into putting up with people we don’t like. So unless it’s for professional reasons, you gotta get that coinage, let them go like that song from Frozen.
- Stop setting unrealistic time frames to get stuff done.
In the past, one of the biggest reasons I had a hard time living up to the resolutions I made was because I gave myself a certain amount of time to get them done. Whether my timing was realistic, setting a deadline made me consider my resolutions dreadful or feel a sense of failure if I didn’t get them done on time. Instead, make resolutions with ballpark deadlines. This will allow you to set a more realistic time frame around completing your goals. Remember before setting said goals to consider all the other stuff you have going on in your life. And even when you feel like you may not complete your resolutions promptly, don’t give up. Keep working towards them to make progress.
- Procrastinate less by actively working.
I was one of those people who always believed that they had more time than they did to complete a task and this year showed me that I desperately needed to get out of that frame of mind. As a writer and student, procrastination killed my creativity and my production was almost nonexistent. One reason for that was how I saw my tasks. I viewed them as unpleasant and put them on the back burner until the pots started to overflow. A great way to procrastinate less is to start right away and with a plan. I find that organization helps with execution and lowers anxiety towards a task. It’s a learning process.
- Don’t be charitable because you think you should. Be charitable because you genuinely want to.
Don’t make plans to do something nice just because it’s the right thing to do. Do it because you desire to. And what I mean by that is find different ways to help people. It doesn’t have to be traditional volunteering or donating to a charity. If helping out or doing something in a big way seems to be too much for you, hence why you never get around to doing it in the first place, find your own unique ways to give back. Offer up your seat on the subway, buy a homeless person dinner, lend a listening ear, or perform some other small selfless act of love. The idea of giving back means that you are doing it out of the kindness of your heart – that’s what counts.
Do you find it hard to stick to new year’s resolutions?
