This blog is a perfect example of a New Year’s resolution that failed to be resolved. Started each January for the past two years, and never lasted more than a month.
Each beginning of the New Year, along with some rest that comes along with the holidays, there is a sense that you can do it all. Motivation is high, everyone around you is on planning and energetic mode, so why don’t you as well do all the things that you have not done in the past eleven thousand years? The next couple of weeks are a perfect place to fit everything in.
You start idealizing how your life could look like, what you could do each day, you think that you have the external circumstances under control and that this time you have a well thought out plan for all the 145 things that you want to incorporate in your daily schedule and you are certain that this time will be THE time. The time that you will finally make it.
Until reality and boredom hit again. Energy starts to drop. Life gets in the way. Distractions are piling up. Motivation walked out that door and didn’t even say goodbye. You see the 145 goals written in your calendar or flashing in your mind here and there. Like a dying body fighting for its last breath, the willingness to try some of those goals makes some small moves until it completely dies out.
So what do you do?
The first solution could be to shrug the shoulders, exclaim an «Oh well! Same old, same old!» and move on with your life. This is not the first time anyway. You will try next year again, when you will remember all the «extra things» that need to get done and are not being done anyway. Besides, you don’t even feel guilty any more.
But there is something itching over there. Some times the itch is small and unnoticable, sometimes the itch gets bigger. And when it gets bigger, the self-loathing comes along. The one that wants you to move away from autopilot and start claiming some sort of control for your life. I’m not going to share any strategies to «accomplish your goals» and «make SMART goals». All I am going to say is to have the courage to admit to yourself what you are willing to drop. From the 145 things, the 144 need to go away. And it needs courage to admit that you can’t do it all. It needs courage to pick just one.
But this one will also allow you for peace of mind. Because if you really need to choose, you get to take a hard look to those 145 things that you want to accomplish. Do all of these really matter? Do any of these add to the living experience that you want to have day in and day out? Is this a real goal or an idealized version of a life that you’re not really interested in the first place?
Give yourself permission to focus on just one thing. It’s more than enough.
Days of Wonder 