With New Year’s Eve only days away, the holiday break in motion and the gluttony of Christmas now well and truly set in, now is the time of year when we typically stop and take stock of our lives.

For most of us, Jan 1st is the time we reset our goals and assess how we live in comparison to how we’d like to live. It is this thinking and hope for something better that sees us develop New Year’s resolutions.

Our resolutions are usually big personal changes that require the spark of a New Year to get firing. Whether it’s losing that extra weight, investing in your fitness or learning to say no, the change isn’t something that typically comes easily to us. It requires an investment of time, attitude and persistence.

The problem with most resolutions is that the process of implementing these changes is often heavily flawed. While goal setting is important, putting realistic, achievable steps in play that will help you achieve your desired changes over the long-term are just as critical.

If we aren’t real to ourselves about what we can achieve and how we can do it, these goals often fail to stick as soon as the hustle and bustle of real life replaces the serenity of holiday bliss.

To sense check this thinking – hands up if you’ve had the same New Year’s resolution for the past three years? I know I certainly have.

This year I’m renaming my New Year’s resolutions to New Year’s acceptances.

I read yesterday that we should look at our days as if they are our life in miniature. What you do today is actually creating your future – from the words you speak, to the decisions you make and the food you eat.

This thinking brings to life the role of each and every day in our lives. We should view every day as a step towards achieving goals, as real change is never something that happens overnight. It’s a long process and each sunrise represents a new chapter in our desire for something different.

If we work at what we want to change, day in day out, and accept that the process will have flaws and that there will be natural highs and lows, only then will we be able to truly achieve what we’ve set out to change.

So, in the spirit of being real to myself and in my attempts to try and live The Whole Life, I’m not going to feel guilty if I slip up. I am going to accept the change process and myself. I also promise to try and bring my every thing to the table every single day.

So, what are my goals for 2015?

• To show more gratitude
• To drink more water daily
• To invest more confidently in my own self-care

*hat-tip to my dear friend Lu who first floated the idea of New Year’s acceptances with me as we contemplated what was in store for us in 2015

**Pic courtesy of the team at Esty – if you want these sparkly numbers for your celebration you can get them here

 

Article by Clementine Stuart-Russell 

Living on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, Clementine started The Whole Life to share with others all the new, weird and wonderful things she’s learnt on the journey to living a happier, healthier life. Clementine believes living The Whole Life is a sum of parts; that is, looking after your body through movement and nourishing food, your mind through spirituality and positivity, and your surrounds through love, care and honesty. The Whole Life is a collection of recipes, lessons learnt, influences and opinions about the path to wellbeing.