Moment #1
Last year our son, Cai, and his mates inspired us. While eating tea he told us that rather than have a New Year’s resolution, they were going to have a New Year’s theme such as: eat better, be tidier. What impressed me was that one friend (the one that wanted to be tidier) had expanded that he wanted “his car to be tidier, his clothing to be tidier, his mind to be tidier…”.
Moment #2
I really loved the Sky series Brassic. It’s a story of a group of chaotic criminal friends in the Lancashire hills who get into loads of scrapes. One scene has stuck with me over the past few years. The character, Erin (played by Michelle Keegan, is a single mum who is desperate to get out of the small-town situation she’s in, to build a better life for her and her son. Her dream is to become a travel agent and she’s studying part-time at a local college. On the day of her exam the usual chaos is enveloping the gang and she feels torn to help. But another character warns/ advises her to stop and think – Get up everyday and make your decisions based upon your ultimate goals. So she does the exam and embraces the chaos afterwards.
Moment #3
When I worked at a local charity we were asked to come up with an office target from our International board. Ours was: stop and eat the strawberries. The story told by a colleague was that a person falls from a cliff and is hanging from a branch, in a moment of impending doom they see some wild strawberries and take the time to sample them. Dumb – I know, but the heart, and the reminder is there.
Moment #4
Quitter’s day- the second Friday of January when most people are said to give up on New Year’s resolutions.
New Year’s Resolutions are crap. For me at least. I have no will power, no stickability. I am a tragic underachiever who, frankly, can’t be arsed. So I could go into 2026 saying I’m going to go to the gym three times a week, I could promise to practice guitar for an hour a day, I could say I’m going to lose weight etc etc. But the truth is – it doesn’t work for me. Maybe I’m too dumb for SMART targets.
But, last year I did try and take my son’s friend’s advice and have a year’s theme. Mine was to be more active-and I was, when I could be. I took up walking rugby, I tried to walk instead of drive, I went to the gym until about August. Later in the year I was suffering from very bad foot pain (I now know I have osteo-arthritis in my feet -joy) so I didn’t do as much. But, I am on my feet a lot at work, and I feel like I can honestly say that I was more active last year.
This year my theme is: ‘Enjoying the fruit’. I often move from target to target, to-do list to to-do list. Last year we spent most of the school summer holidays laying a lovely patio on our back yard that we have not sat and enjoyed since laying it. Life, for us, is really busy, but we don’t take much time to enjoy the fruit of our labour. Busy leads to busy.
So what might this look like? Well certainly using the patio more and lighting the firepit (which I love); A couple of holidays; More reading instead of TV maybe; A bit more staring out of the window may be on the cards; Playing some Playstation, perhaps? Saying no to some stuff would help.
Rob Bell (remember him) did a series on change a few years ago and he said (quoting actual social scientists) that it’s very difficult to change behaviour. Instead you need to change culture. So SMART may not do it. So how about SLOW?
Set some time aside to think about things every so often.
Let your theme permeate different areas of your life.
Only change the things you want to change, not what you think others want you to.
When you slip, be kind, there’s always tomorrow.
So this year – I’m looking forward to enjoying the fruit.
Questions:
Is there a New Year’s resolution you’ve made that lasted a really short time?
Have you ever made it through a whole year keeping a resolution?
Have you made a resolution this year?
What could be a theme for you this year?
Photo by Anna Tarazevich: https://www.pexels.com/photo/letter-tiles-beside-mandarins-6027785/
I’ve been a member of BCFX for about 4 years. I love it. It’s home and hearth, welcome and challenge, ebb and flow.