The New Year’s Resolution You Will Actually Keep

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As we close out 2021 and reflect on year two of pandemic life, everyone, and I do mean everyone, is going to make new years resolutions. Of course, the most popular ones will be losing weight, getting more money, and finding love.

So, instead of offering platitudes for the upcoming weeks, here are the resolutions I made December 31st, 2020 that I kept and benefited from over the year.

1. You resolve to stay exactly where you are. It doesn’t sound sexy, but if you are anticipating a hardship or a circumstance where life will try to knock you down, you are resolving not to go down with your ship. You will work to maintain whatever comfort level you are at, regardless of what the future may bring.
2. You resolve to do more of that one thing you really love. This one is pretty self-explanatory, but we often get pulled into guilting ourselves out of doing the things we really enjoy for various reasons: it takes us away from our family, we are out of practice, we don’t look like we did, and on, and on. I love pole dancing, and I resolved to make room in my time and budget to let me do more of it without any guilt. I thought of how awesome I feel doing the thing I love and wrote down a list of activities I was willing to give up in favor of making it happen. Then I looked for places near me that offered pole dancing. With a bit of planning, I wound up taking 36 classes!
3. You resolve to eat and drink more. Yes, you read that correctly. Most people resolve to lose weight, go on a diet, or start working out. And they usually fade out by February. I was one of those people. So, I started reframing my resolution according to what I wanted. I wanted to eat more good food. I wanted to drink more water. So, I made some rules for myself using Ilana Muhlstein’s 2B Mindset method and Macro Nutrient Tracking. That gave me the freedom to allow myself to eat whatever I wanted, as long as I obeyed my own rules. That took the guilt of “cheating on a diet” out of the equation.

So what wound up happening? First, I resolved to stay the same, which meant that when I had my breakdown in January, I refused to let it beat me up. Instead, I got a coach and started taking on my inner demons and working on myself. Once I had that mindset in place, the increased activity focused on going to pole dancing class more often meant exercising more. All those burpees and runs I do to clear my head also help me get better at the thing I love doing. Lastly, once I saw the process, I wanted my start using my food to help keep that positive momentum.

As a result, 2021 wound up being one of the best years of my life.

Here is the takeaway: When December 31st rolls around, make a resolution you want to keep and figure out a plan of action. Then, you’ll have more opportunities to keep those resolutions than ones that sound like abject torture.

Disclaimer: There is one Amazon affiliate link in this post: the book You Can Drop It! by Ilana Muhlstein, founder of the 2B Mindset Food Plan. It’s a solid read and helped me heal my relationship with food.