Self –
Praise
If I have learnt one thing over the past year, it’s that our aims for 2017 should give us a push to carry on achieving what WE consider to be successful not what someones ELSE considers to be. Perhaps you can aim to make a wage out of your growing hobby by the end of the year. Or maybe you could push yourself just that little bit harder to gain a promotion in the role you have worked for the last few years. For me, I often beat myself up and compare myself to others, gauging my success against the pillars of success that others may reach. Yet, everyone is different, and it often takes me some time to realise that you can never and should never compare yourself to anybody else, because it only leads to you taking a step back. Instead, be inspired, become motivated by those that you admire and move forward with a more positive and self-praising mindset.
A Healthy
Lifestyle
I am a huge advocate of everything in moderation and thoroughly trying to enjoy every aspect of your life too, however hard that may be. Whether that be exercising after a delicious weekend of food, taking some time to clear your mind when something hasn’t quite gone to plan or trying very hard not to let your career take over other aspects of your life.
A healthy lifestyle doesn’t just mean 9 trips to the gym every week and taking up marathon training all of a sudden. It’s a combination of a healthy physical life and a healthy mind too. Let’s resolve to exercise a little more for the sake of our body and mind, let’s take up meditation for 20 minutes every day to relax or let’s try to simply create a healthier work/life balance for the sake of everyone in our lives. Just relaxing and taking life a touch slower in general, will lead to less stress and a more organised mindset. Perhaps even an extra hours sleep every night might be the most important resolution we workaholics could make. I’m sure we could all definitely head to bed a lot earlier than we do.
In honesty, me and Alex have both also just gone fully plant based for our diets. Cutting out dairy and meat, although I haven’t eaten meat in a year. But for Alex its a huge step. We’re really excited and can’t wait for the health benefits!
It’s the small steps we achieve that make the biggest difference over time.
Family
& Friends
Quite possibly one of the most important resolutions for me this year is to make a real effort to keep my friends and family close and loved. I have such a wonderful, close knit family and a group of friends I would travel to the ends of the earth for, but it can be so easy to forget this in the midst of our busy lives and careers.
I know I am guilty of forgetting to hit reply, leaving that phone call till the next day and assuming that thank you card can be written next week but 2017 is the year I make a change. Life is too short and we are reminded of that every day.
Let’s try to listen to, love and learn from others in 2017. And for us workaholics? We already love to organise and plan ahead so let’s plan to visit those we love in the New Year so we don’t miss out on spending time with those people that make our lives worth living.
Making
the Call
This is one I am personally very excited about for 2017 and one I feel we can all get involved in whether on our own or with others. Let’s resolve to try new things this coming year.
Maybe in 2017 we can be the one to talk to the new work colleague first, take up a new gym class, or even begin a photography course that may lead to something more. It could even be that I finally buy a French speaking course and learn the language of the country I spend a lot of my time in. I know that so many of us have that activity we would all like to call out hobby, but never actually find ourselves committing. Pushing ourselves to do something new this next year could lead to so many exciting challenges and adventures!
Positively
Positive
And last but not least.. positivity.
Now this might seem broad and wide ranging but again I feel this is another one we can all get on board with and it’s definitely one I need to have at the forefront of my mind. I consider myself a relatively positive person but when all of the above topics get a little too much for me I sometimes feel like I’m drowning and find it hard to resurface with a smile on my face.
I know that when I feel low, the first thing I do is try to surround myself with people who are little rays of sunshine. They lift me up, they show me that I have so much to be thankful for and they succeed in making my life feel a little bit brighter when I need it most. I want to be one of those people.
Every cloud has a silver lining and I want to learn to see them next year and make 2017 shine.
And for those not so achievable goals – I’m going to try to cut back on alcohol, although in honestly I barely drink it. But saying no to Champagne at events and that glass of wine on a Friday evening will be a target for me!
Let me know if you are setting yourself any resolutions this year and if so what they are! Let’s all share and perhaps we can inspire a resolution revolution for 2017!
