New Years Resolutions to Stick

01/31/2017

We’re only 4 short weeks into this beautiful fresh, shiny new year and already it might feel a bit “old”. If you’re like me, half way through January is when I start to feel “over” my big, ambitious resolutions. This year I decided to do something I’ve never done … not make any resolutions that were centred around myself.

I started wondering about the lows that we sometimes feel in the new year might be because we spend the entire Christmas season focusing on giving to others, and then snap into January when lots of our goals and resolutions are focused on ourselves. “I’M going to save MY money so I can take that trip, I’M going to lose 10 lbs so I can look MY best, I’M going to make time in my schedule for more ME time”

While those goals are completely admirable (And I should probably adopt some gym time myself haha), I want to challenge you to beat those January blahs by adding one more resolution to your list – one that came to us so naturally just a month ago … to GIVE. To intentionally give kindness, grace, compassion and empathy every. single. day. To go out of the way in our busy, busy day to give a little something of ourselves to make anothers’ day a little brighter. It might be taking a deep breath when a co-worker has made yet another sideways remark or it might be choosing to be thankful for your husband even when he’s left his socks on the floor – again, or it might be giving a complete stranger a sincere compliment.

I read a quote recently from the wise Martin Luther King that says “Life’s most urgent and persistent question is, “What are you doing for others?” ”

While losing those extra 5 or 10 pounds is an incredible feat, I don’t think anything will give us the life-changing warm fuzzies deep inside that we get when we GIVE.