Most people give up on their resolutions by mid March or early April (research shows this). But why? Personally, I think it’s because we aren’t resolving anything within ourselves.
Take me for example. For years I’ve made New Year’s resolutions that I’ve given up on. I start the year excited and ready to go but quickly crash and burn. Where do I start? How do I get from point A to point B? I’m confused! Help!
That’s usually when I shut things down and run away. I quit at the first sign of adversity and don’t even give myself a chance to make a mistake or fail. To top things off I then beat up on myself at the end of the year for not achieving my goals. How’s that for resolving things within myself!
All of this stems back to my childhood. As a kid I learned that mistakes equalled pain and more often than not I was in a lot of pain. No wonder why I have a habit of shutting down and running away. The scared little boy in me is afraid of getting hurt again.
But…
That’s not me resolving anything within myself. That’s me letting my childhood run the show. Just because I had a rough childhood does’t mean I have to be my rough childhood.
So how do we resolve things within ourselves? For me (at this stage of my life) it’s by building healthy self esteem. Which brings me to my resolution. My resolution this year is to do one thing every day that my future self will thank me for. I’m choosing to simplify my life, and this will actually build my self esteem because I’m measuring my daily esteemable acts.
Yesterday it was going for a run through the neighborhood. Today it was meditation and finishing this post.
Happy New Year!
Zachary