Ditch the New Year’s resolutions and start by setting intentions for yourself in 2018.
It’s that time of year again, where your news feed is filled with promises of healthy new lifestyles, ways to combat the so-called “holiday weight gain,” and other diet focused resolutions. We’ve all fell into the trap of creating these unrealistic New Year’s resolutions and end up falling short because of that. That vicious cycle is what we call diet culture and your resolutions seem to always become forgotten within a few short weeks because they were set for the wrong reasons.
With the years seeming to fly by at the speed of light, I thought about ways to make this year and the years to come, more meaningful. Those few days in between Christmas and New Year’s always have an interesting feel to me. I tend to think of the past year, recall all that I’ve accomplished, and feel a bit nostalgic. Yet, at the same time I feel optimistic and look forward to the New Year ahead and the unknown.
I think it’s more helpful to look at the New Year as a way to set intentions for yourself, rather than resolutions. To me, intentions set the tone for a more positive year ahead and help you have a general focus. Resolutions usually focus on taking something away or being rigid with yourself. When we look what we can add to our lives, the outcome is generally more favorable and there this overarching sense of achieving perfection that typically comes along with setting resolutions.
With the years seeming to fly by at the speed of light, I thought about ways to make this year and the years to come, more meaningful. Those few days in between Christmas and New Year’s always have an interesting feel to me. I tend to think of the past year, recall all that I’ve accomplished, and feel a bit nostalgic. Yet, at the same time I feel optimistic and look forward to the New Year ahead and the unknown.
I think it’s more helpful to look at the New Year as a way to set intentions for yourself, rather than resolutions. To me, intentions set the tone for a more positive year ahead and help you have a general focus. Resolutions usually focus on taking something away or being rigid with yourself. When we look what we can add to our lives, the outcome is generally more favorable and there this overarching sense of achieving perfection that typically comes along with setting resolutions.
This year, let’s set the intention of having more self-compassion for ourselves.
Having self-compassion for yourself can look like so many different things and it’s such a personal intention, which is why I love it! Some of the greatest acts of self-compassion are actively deciding to not take part in diet culture, focusing on listening to your body, partaking in intuitive eating, and finding ways for joyful movement.
When setting an intention for yourself, I like to frame it in my mind as a way to set a theme for your year. This intention will serve as that North Star to help guide your decisions throughout the year. When you have that overall of self-compassion intention set, you can then go about setting daily intentions that will help you to embody that.
When setting an intention for yourself, I like to frame it in my mind as a way to set a theme for your year. This intention will serve as that North Star to help guide your decisions throughout the year. When you have that overall of self-compassion intention set, you can then go about setting daily intentions that will help you to embody that.
Start each day by asking yourself, “What do I need most today?”
When you get real with yourself and start to make a habit of setting daily intentions, you will not only reach your personal goals more often, but you will also feel so much better while on your journey. There’s no more guilt or stress or disappointment that comes at the end of the month because you fell short.
You can truly start to live your best life and embrace every moment to the fullest when you see what intention you can add into your daily life in this New Year.