6 New Year Resolutions You Should Consider For 2015
Throw out the sweeping, unrealistic new year resolutions like, “I’ll train for a marathon!” when you get out of breath walking to the fridge, or “I’m gonna meditate for an hour every morning, before breakfast!” because: LOLZ. No, you’re not. 2015 is about intentional, purposeful living – doing more with less, shrinking our worlds in order to grow in them, and changing how we think. What we value. How we spend our most precious resource: our time. Basically, 2015 is the year of some seriously soulful living, you guys. Dig it.
1. Do more of what feels good, and less of what doesn’t
Game changer: Feel good about your life by… doing what makes you feel good. Feel less shitty by… doing fewer shitty things.
Sometimes, what feels good is a large deep-pan margarita and a pitcher of ice cold beer. But, surprisingly, not as often as we think. What *really* feels good is eight hours of quality sleep, vegetables at every meal, and saving some of your paycheck every month so that when you have an emergency, you don’t rely on somebody else to fix your financial problems.
It’s ditching the friend who makes you, somehow, feel less than yourself. Stepping away from your iPhone and working up a sweat four times a week. Being present. It’s more IRL and less Instagram show reel. It’s authenticity, instead of keeping up with the Internet Joneses.
Trust that you’re supposed to feel good, babies. You are!
2. “I’m sorry” doesn’t mean having to say “It’s okay”
We put a huge value on compassion and kindness, on “everyone makes mistakes” and “be the bigger person” and “bygones are bygones”. For the most part, yeah – totally. Forgiving others their humanness is as much as you’d like to be granted yourself, right?
But.
But sometimes, people fuck up. Sometimes, they might be sorry for what they’ve done, and you might be okay to forgive– but not forget. NEWSFLASH! That is okay. Not every apology deserves total absolution. The occasions will (hopefully) be very few and far between, but for the one transgression you just can’t shift past? It might be time to stop pretending. State your needs and stand by them. You deserve that much. You are totally allowed to say, “Hey – I thank you for your sorry, and I accept it. But I cannot forget it.”
3. #JOMO
We’re only young once. Live every moment as if it was your last. Live fast, die young. Fear Of Missing Out has a lot to answer for: we’re a generation of exhausted, Twitter-feed-scrolling, adrenaline junkies, characterized by a desperate desire not to miss the party, the lunch, the cute-meet, the anything. For 2015, what if we found the JOY in missing out?
JOMO: giving you permission to do what you really want to do, instead of what you *think* you should.
A hot bath over a night at the overpriced bar. Girls night instead of date night. Date night instead of Girls Night. A weekend in bed, reading. A trip home instead of Spring Break.
4. If in doubt, do nothing
At the end of every yoga session, you lay in Savasana: corpse pose. It’s the time when all of the hard work is supposed to take shape, to find form. A bit like when a caterpillar is in cocooned before becoming a butterfly. In savasana, you’re encouraged to stay in the pose for just a *liiiiiitle* longer than is comfortable – a bit beyond when you want to leave. That’s when the transformations happen.
A bit like in life, then.
If you don’t know what to do next – in love, in work, in life – do nothing. Just for a little bit longer. The answer will reveal itself.
5. Just show up
If you’re going to sweep the floors, Santana said, be the best floor sweeper in town – and if you’re going to play guitar, be a goddamn rock star. What that means is giving your all: being totally, 100% present in whatever you’re doing. Half-assing anything only reflects poorly on you: pick what it worth your time, and then be fully engaged with it.
What this will do for your sense of well-being is immeasurable.
6. Say no
Embracing the universe’s magic by being wise open to her opportunities is a smart move: only by trying a whole bunch of things can we figure out what works for us. But, ultimately, the time will come when you’re expected to know enough about yourself to recognize which opportunities are the best use of your most valuable resource – your time – and which aren’t. That means *OH THE HORROR!* turning most stuff down, in order to focus on a few things well.
Say a bunch of small no’s to make way for the biggest HELL YEAH! of your inevitably incredible year.