I stopped making New Year’s Resolutions a long time ago. I like the idea of them—aspirations are important—but they always felt a little too simplistic and therefore faulty and doomed.
But there are two non-resolution resolution-like motivations I’ve taken on, and I like them. They are considered, stable and communal, all of which I’m sure we could all use a little more of during this time.
The first of the two is… intention bracelets.
It was actually late 2019 when they came into my radar. My sister kept asking me to think of a word, an intention I had for the upcoming year, and so I took my time and thought about it. For the majority of 2019 I’d kept my head down—working a lot, volunteering almost every weekend, taking classes… I can sincerely say that I had no downtime and did very little socializing on purpose. And so, going into the next year, I wanted things to change up. I wanted to meet new people, have a social life again, not solely focus on work, go out a little more, and be more accepting of whatever comes my way. I ended up selecting the word OPEN, and my sister—being the sweetheart she is—ended up gifting me my intention bracelet for 2020.
Yes, we all know what went down in 2020, but it was always good to have a physical reminder of the intention I made at the beginning of the year. In a way, it helped ground me whenever I was feeling overwhelmed and pushed me to try to find ways to keep my intention going.
I liked it so much I decided to keep going for 2021. It’ll now be two years in a row, so… I guess it’s a tradition now.
The second non-resolution resolution-like motivation I’m taking part of I was actually invited to participate in by a dear friend I made in 2020 (yes, I met and befriended people last year like I intended to.) This particular project I am very much looking forward to.
Essentially, a friend asked us to submit either a four-step process/breakdown of a goal we’d like to thoughtfully achieve, or just words of encouragement we’d like to receive quarterly.
While this Non-Resolution has the backing that a regular resolution lacks, I still didn’t feel like there was the ONE thing I wanted to focus my energy in getting done.
Instead, I thought about what I’d want to see more of in my life for 2021 and that would be INSPIRATION, because I know that when I’m inspired I want to create. Therefore, what I decided to do was ask to receive poetry by snail mail. I can’t tell you how excited I am about this. I really feel that when each of those four poems are delivered, it’s just going to make my day.
Do you have anything like this, Dear Reader—Non-Resolution Resolution-like Motivations? Or if you don’t, is this something you think you’d want to implement in your own life?
I know we’re already 12 days into this year, but I hope it’s a better one for us all and that we each find ways to keep motivated.
Thank you. I enjoyed this.