2023 is finally here! With the start of each new year, come many resolutions, goals, habits we want to kick and projects we want to start. However, most of us have had the experience of setting all of our lofty goals before the ball drops at midnight, only to find our resolutions broken by mid-January. So, what gives?
So much of this has to do with the way we approach our goals. For many of us, we have set the bar at perfection. We’ll say this year I am sticking to a strict diet or going to the gym every day. This will be the year that I won’t procrastinate or that I’ll get my mental health on track. But inevitably will come the weeks where we eat burgers and fries, never set foot in the gym, and take days to get simple projects done. We consider our resolutions as “ruined” and tell ourselves we have “failed.” But what if making allowance for these kind of days is exactly the thing we need to make our goals work?
What would it look like if we allowed the journey to be imperfect and recognized that it didn’t mean we had fallen completely off course? What if we celebrated each small step and healthy choice and didn’t wait until we hit the big goals before we allowed ourselves to feel proud of an accomplishment? What if we had weeks that we made no progress at all towards the goals we laid down, but we were able to rest, care for ourselves, and find time with family and friends? Could we give ourselves the permission to pick up where we left off next week?
Let this be a year that you recognize that you are amazing, awesome, extremely capable, and strong. However, let this be a year that you also hold the reality that you are human. Recognize in 2023 that the process towards fulfilling our goals encompasses many shifts and changes in speed. Some weeks will be full steam ahead and others not so much. This is all a normal, perfectly acceptable part of the journey.
Let this be the year that you choose to be kind to yourself, to love yourself, and to celebrate yourself. In a recent post on Instagram, Dr. Caroline Leaf wrote, “What you do today doesn’t determine the rest of your month or even year…The ‘health kick’ doesn’t need to start today or at all. Only make changes you feel are sustainable and right for you and come from a place of health and acceptance…You can start, restart, and begin again as many times as you need, and whenever. Doesn’t mean you are a failure, it means you are a learner.” I wholeheartedly agree.
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Cor. 12:9).
