I hope you are as excited about the New Year as I am. Inasmuch as I no longer do New Year resolutions (because I never succeeded at them and I don’t know if resolutions really work) and I haven't succeeded so much with goals either as most of my goals about exercising, staying off junk food, saving....have a low achievement rate, I can't shake off the feeling of hope a New Year offers.
There must be a reason why we don’t count our time spent on earth in days- we’ve learned to count mostly in years and that is why when I am asked how old I am, I don’t say over 12,600 days but rather I’d say over 35 years (yeah that’s for you to think I am actually about 35 years old). There is something about life and seasons, and I think that’s what we hope for a New Year to present- a new season.
A new season or year or whatever we choose to call it can be a product of certain actions and inactions. One thing I have learned over time is that new seasons don’t always happen suddenly or magically. In most cases, it will require a lot of dedication, consistency, and commitment. In the case of exercising, I had always thought that somewhere somehow something would happen, and then by the end of the year, I'd suddenly discover that I have incorporated it into my lifestyle. Even when I started walking Saturday mornings but I was unable to sustain it as there were days I was too lazy or busy to go on a walk, rather than move it to another day, I simply felt I had failed at it and eventually gave up. I didn’t understand the principle of consistency so year in, year out I seemed to fail at achieving my goals.
Now I know better. I am learning that in achieving some goals, I may have moments when I don’t meet the target or fall short but it is okay to come up with other strategies that may work and even if I have to carry it forward to the next season or year, it is okay. So this year, I am starting out a 15minutes work out daily. I wanted to have a morning routine but since I have been unable to stick to a particular time, rather than give up, I ensure that somewhere in the day, I still have my work out as it is more important to build the habit over time.
I think what is important is having some metrics to evaluate your performance if any. This applies to every area of our lives and when we seem not to meet the goal, as I wrote earlier, it is okay to carry this forward to the next season or year.
I hope we have a beautiful year by being consistent, deliberate, and committed!
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