Did you make New Year’s resolutions? Approximately 45% of Americans usually do.
I’ve been part of this 45% in the past but I didn’t write any down this year (which is what I usually do to make resolutions into real goals and not just nebulous improvement projects I suddenly remember as I’m falling asleep). A friend and I sat on a wraparound porch in Florida while I was still home for the holidays instead, reflecting on the kind of women we wanted to become and what the ladies we had in mind would accomplish by 2016. I preferred this method, especially since it included snacks and wine which I now realize is a sign of a good time all the time.
Although most of what we discussed remained in the abstract and not-yet-seen, a few things were clear – In 2015, one of us would have completed facilitating a three-month English teaching course in South Africa, the other would have begun writing again and successfully transitioned into a new career. Although we couldn’t make out the details surrounding most of our ambitions for the year, the picture we painted throughout our conversation was still pretty grand.
In 2015, I’m excited about curating a life that not only looks good on Instagram but feels good at 4:00 PM on a Wednesday afternoon. Project numero uno towards this end is aligning my career with an innovation-minded media company whose culture and set of values I can embrace as my own. Prioritizing the interests and relationships that encourage me to create, celebrate, and breath life in a little more deeply when I least feel like it is top, too.
I can articulate all of this right now while it’s present of mind, but there’s something about monotonous daily routines (and HGTV marathons, ahem) that makes goals, written or unwritten, rather forgettable. I’m still figuring out how to avoid allowing that to happen but I think the first step is speaking the things we want to accomplish out loud, where we are then made accountable to the work it will take to achieve them.
That being said, we’re two weeks into 2015. We have 8,431 hours left this year.
How are your resolutions going?
