New resolutions? Try again next year

Do people even do New Year’s resolutions anymore? I don’t think I’ve ever followed them very strictly. 

 

I think my problem is there are too many things I want to do in a year, too many things I want to change. My resolutions are usually pretty standard: eat healthier foods, exercise more, go to the gym. Fortunately I’ve started doing those things fairly regularly, so I want to dive into some other elements of my life. 

 

I think this year, I would like to make more use of the yoga mat I bought months ago and have used maybe twice, and to add something musical in my life. I’m not calling these resolutions. “Resolutions” means I have to do them, have to follow them. It’s like telling your kids to wash the dishes or clean their room. They might be happy to do it if you don’t ask or pressure them, but the second you make it a demand, there’s resistance. I think that’s how I feel about resolutions. In general, I just want to be happy and healthy. I don’t want to feel pressured to do something that might not even benefit me months or weeks down the road. I, as a human, am constantly changing. My resolutions should too. 

 

So I am going to do some yoga stretches, and I am probably going to join a choir. If I like stretching and find it beneficial to keep in my routine, I’ll do so, and move on to a new thing I would like to add or change in my life. I will probably join a choir, and once I have filled what seems like that gap in my life, I will move to the next thing. 

 

I’m not saying this is healthy or the right way to think. I just currently, at this moment, don’t feel like conforming to the particular societal standard of making a “resolution.” Ask me again next year. 

 

My boss at the magazine asked me to provide a picture of myself for their social media, along with a one-sentence statement about a word I want to describe my 2026. I told them my word is going to be “intentional.” Meaning, I don’t want to breeze through life. I want to be intentional about the things I do. I want to get off my phone, stop the doom scroll, and do intentional things like exploring outside, cooking new recipes, reading new books, and learning something new every day. I want to do things that will benefit my body and my mind. I want to be intentional about the way I spend my time and use my energy. I don’t want to fade into the background, and I particularly don’t want to waste my time on my phone. 

So maybe that is another “resolution” of mine, to get off my phone and off of social media. My bookshelf is constantly calling to me, reminding me it is full of books I have been meaning to read. My plants look at me drearily from their windowsills wondering why I don’t care for them. 

 

My Determination: “I have dreamt in my life, dreams that have stayed with me ever after, and changed my ideas; they have gone through and through me, like wine through water, and altered the color of my mind.” - Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights