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Choosing your New Year’s Resolutions, New Month Resolutions and New You Resolutions
By Sue Ellson BBus MIML MAHRI CDAA MPC ASA WV
As another year draws to a close, I find that a lot of people start thinking about what they want to achieve in the new year.
Some will be disappointed that they didn’t achieve the New Year’s Resolution/s they made for this year and they abandon the idea altogether (and just enjoy a great New Year’s Eve party).
Other people are so well organised that in September, they start planning what they will do in the coming year according to their short, medium and long term goals.
I suspect that most of us fall somewhere in the middle, wishing we could make and commit to one important resolution and maybe knock off a few others along the way.
However, I think that the underlying concept of the New Year’s Resolution is an innate desire to change something about ourselves.
A sense that in some way, we could do better. We could live more meaningfully and that somehow this would make us feel more complete.
For most of us living in a relatively comfortable Western world, it can be a little bit too easy to continue on the well-known and slightly habitual route and maintain the status quo. After all, for the most part, our everyday lives include the modern comforts of running water, electricity and accessible transport (over 100 years ago, even these simple items were considered a luxury).
Thankfully, there are enough motivated people around us who are inspired every day to get up and make everyday comforts available to us.
I remember working with a client who had very wealthy parents that could afford ‘every luxury’ and yet she felt as if she was a ‘poor little rich girl’ as she could not find happiness or contentment in her childhood years. She could not understand why everybody else thought she was so lucky because she had access to financial resources — because she felt so unhappy despite having access to financial resources.
So let me start this process by saying that in my personal view, I do not believe that having money (or more money) is the only way to secure your New Year’s Resolution.
