Let’s take a moment to talk about New Year’s resolutions. Yup, I agree, this is a tired old topic that a lot of people talk about and yet, resolutions continue to be made each year. But I’m just going to say it – I hate them. Sure, the idea is nice – starting the year off on a really determined note and tackle a problem that’s been plaguing us, like weight loss or exercising more or quitting smoking. Too bad it rarely works. In fact, when our resolutions are eventually broken, we are often left feeling worse about ourselves. As a counsellor, wouldn’t it be irresponsible of me to condone a practice that often leaves people feeling bad about themselves? My vote is yes.
Yet, I love the idea of a new year being a time for fresh starts…an idea that is put into action when creating resolutions. Though this seems like it could be a conundrum for me, it’s not. I like to take a different tactic when entering a new year. Rather than resolutions, I choose a theme.
My decision to choose a theme was inspired by Sheri, who chooses a word to live by for the year and shares her experiences on her blog, http://purplestamper.blogspot.ca/. In the past couple of years, I have also chosen a theme which essentially acts as a goal for my year – not nearly as pressure-filled as resolutions. And you know what? It’s been a pretty successful strategy. For example, two years ago my theme was ‘New Beginnings’ and that year saw me starting my own business and starting fresh with new types of exercise after ankle surgery. Last year, I chose ‘Building’ as my theme and it saw me grow my business and start this blog. So what should I choose this year?
The answer to
that question seemed pretty obvious when I sat back to mull it over this week. My theme this year is ‘Balance.’ I’ve been working hard on my business over the past few years and I realized that, while I talk to clients all the time about finding balance in their lives, that concept has been somewhat lost to me over the past few years. So, it’s time to get back on track and seek out balance in my
life again. You’re hearing it here first – I shall find a balance between work and play, greasy food and exercise, alone time and social time, technology time and technology-free time…ok I’m sure there are more areas to balance, but I can’t think of them right now.
With this new theme in mind, the first change I will be making will be to this blog. While I love reading and then writing about the books that I’ve read, it is sometimes really hard keep up and have a book to write about each week! So moving forward, I will be changing the format of this blog to include an even sprinkling of book-related posts and more colloquial posts. Hooray for balance! I hope you all like the changes to come…
For now though, I leave you with one question to think about or comment on: What will your 2016 theme be?
Erin this inspires me!!! I want you to know that a few years back I lived balance as my word! Let’s meet up I have a gift for you!