When the clock strikes midnight…
“Although no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.”
Carl Bard
Yes, it’s that time of year again, when the clock strikes midnight, we sit there thinking about all the things we said we’d do in 2021 but never did.
– It’s true I did make it to the gym, surprisingly regularly and ate better on the whole, but no I still don’t look like Gal Gadot in that gorgeous white dress she wore in Wonder Woman 1984.
– No, I didn’t drink less, despite saying I would, in fact if anything I’m convinced AA are going to come knocking on my door because they think I’ve got a problem.
– And unfortunately I didn’t find a man that I wanted to hold on to.
But unlike every other year that has passed, this year I’ve resolved not to make any resolutions. Yes, I still want to look like Gal Gadot, drink less, move more and find Mr Right, but instead of resolutions I’m going to make myself promises. Promises that start with a cleanse. And I don’t mean your average, let’s get healthy cleanse, no. I mean the type of cleanse that is introspective. One that forces you to look hard at your life and everything that’s in it. A cleanse that is as good for our soul as it is for our physical being.
So, 2022 here’s my promise to you.
I will no longer let negativity win.
Here’s the thing, negative people always have and always will bring nothing but negativity into your life. This is how they are hardwired. They have no desire to change, and they don’t care about the impact they have on you or anyone around them. The onus is on you to take back control, both of your feelings and how you let others impact your mental state. Remember no one can make you feel something you don’t allow them to.
So, starting now I promise to extract myself from situations and people that regularly create that ‘ball of anxiety in the pit of my stomach’. I’m done wasting my energy getting wound up by them and I will no longer let their negativity seep into my veins and consume my every thought. Bye bye negativity. Hello inner peace, how I’ve missed you.
I will cull the deadweight from my life.
Too often we keep people in our life way past their best before date and if we’re honest with ourselves we don’t even like having them in our life anymore. We hold onto this misplaced vision of who we remember them to be. But as they say, ‘don’t let who you believe someone is deep down excuse the reality of how they are making you feel right now’. Culling deadweight isn’t easy, these people will always pull on your heartstrings. You just need to be strong enough to recognise when it’s time to let that person go.
I started this exercise at the end of 2021, and I promise myself that 2022 will be no different. It’s time to make room for better people and better outcomes in life. Hasta luego deadweight’s, you’re taking up too much space, it’s time to close some doors and walk through some new ones.
I will make peace with what life throws at me.
Let’s be honest 2021 was an absolutely shitstorm for most people. People lost loved ones; many gainfully employed lost their livelihoods, and couldn’t put food on the table, It was a truly awful year. But it also taught us some valuable lessons – to improve the quality of our lives, to re-evaluate what’s important to us, focus more on self care & to let go of what we cannot control.
For a control freak, the latter was the hardest pill to swallow, but 2021 didn’t leave me a choice. It forced me to be vulnerable in ways I hadn’t been in a long time. So, 2022 I promise to embrace whatever you throw at me because you’ve already shown me, I can handle it, but I also promise I won’t go down without a fight.
I will be kinder.
This year I promise to be kinder, not just to others but to myself. I will take a leaf out of a book written by the most beautiful person I know, my aunt, who is forever kind. I will smile more at strangers, because you never know what’s going on in their life and when a smile from a stranger might help. I will also stop beating myself up over things that were out of my control. Not thinking that every outcome in my life was down to my actions.
In 2022 I will accept that there are factors that I have no control over… The economy, the current climate, ongoing commitments, other people in my life and I will stop being my worst critic.
I will stop overthinking.
We’re all guilty of it and we are our own worst enemy when it comes to overthinking, So, this is undoubtably one of the biggest promises I will be making to myself. This is the year I will stop being the queen of overthinking (you lucky people have a whole article to look forward to, purely dedicated to this little thing called overthinking).
I will stop thinking something is worse than it is, assuming I know what the other person is thinking. Instead I will ask more, and I will allow myself to be more open and vulnerable, despite what that might bring.
And finally, I will say thank you more.
Gratitude costs nothing and saying thank you spreads nothing but positivity. But when was the last time you thanked yourself? For looking after you; For putting a roof over your head; For putting food on the table and some mornings for just getting up and getting dressed. I’m guessing never. We’re so quick to thank others for the things they do for us, but why don’t we apply that to ourselves?
So for my last promise, moving forward I will also be grateful to myself for all the good things I do, just for me, starting with making these positive changes to my life.
So, let’s raise a glass or two to 2022. You my friend are going to be a great year.
Amen to that Suki. Most resolutions are broken within the first week, maybe ill try doing it differently this year too.Can’t harm