3 New Year Exaltations

I thought for my first post of 2009 I would address the thorny issue of resolutions.

I have always loved the idea of starting with a clean sheet come the 1st of January, and sitting down and making my list of things I wanted to ‘resolve’ in the year ahead. 

I think my resolutions probably revolve around the same sort of themes as most other people – namely weight-loss/fitness, financial, time management, achievement etc etc.

This is all very well but unfortunately it reminds me of all the timetables I used to create for my exam revision at school. I could spend a whole day creating an absolutely amazing timetable, planned down to the smallest detail and coloured-in beautifully with my 300 multipack of felt-tip pens. However, after the high of creating this stunning masterpiece I wouldn’t actually get round to doing quite as much revision as I perhaps should have done Sound familiar anyone?

And isn’t it just the same with resolutions? Yes they do make you feel very buoyed up and positive for a short period of time, but if you are already falling off whichever wagon you have climbed on by the 7th January, then it really may be time to have a bit of a rethink.

This year I am putting resolutions aside  and instead putting in place what I have come to think of as New Year Exaltations, which will be defined by the following criteria and will be used in whichever area of my life I want to make changes:

• After a very difficult time for me personally in 2008 I am looking forward to the year ahead with hope and the belief in a more promising future. I am going to look around me and be thankful for what I do actually have – whether that be family, friends, my health or the ability to turn-on the PC and connect with thousands of people online worldwide

• Choose one method of achieving whatever I am setting out to do and stick with it until I see results. That can be going for a half hour walk every day, sorting and filing paperwork as it arrives, eating more fruit or refining an online process until it is bringing in consistent profits. One of my big weaknesses in the past has been being sidelined by the next ‘big thing’ and going off and exploring that. I have become better at not being sidetracked so easily and this year I am going to totally nail it down and work consistently on one thing at a time

• Don’t beat myself up about mistakes and failures as I go along. I am an ‘all or nothing’ kind of person and sometimes I fall into the trap of going all out on something, then slipping up and instead of just carrying on calmly and getting back to the business in hand, whether that be losing a few pounds or setting up a new blog, I throw the baby out with the bath water and go not only off the rails but also completely in the wrong direction up the tracks. So 2009 for me is going to be the year of perspective. Yes there will be mistakes, yes I will sometimes go astray but that doesn’t mean the end of the world and the end of my plans. Get back on track, in the saddle or on the wagon ,whichever phrase you prefer, but get back on there, there is much more to see in life….enjoy

There you have it. 3 simple exaltations for me and yes they are exaltations because that is just so much more positive that ‘resolving’ to start over in the same patterns  I have always tried before.

We are all meant to be filled with doom and gloom at the moment, every news article you hear, see or read tells us of crime, credit crunch and climate change. However that doesn’t need to be our reality.  Lift up your head  and let’s get some exaltations out there – feel free to leave yours in the comments section below.

Happy New Year!