#41 New Year - No pressure!
So it’s the start of another year and the New Year is typically the time that we think about setting personal goals or setting resolutions or deciding what we are NOT going to do after the indulgence of Christmas. BUT this year more any other, I think it’s so important that we don’t put too much pressure on ourselves – let’s face it, we have more than enough to cope with right now!
I have a tendency to have very high expectations of myself in all aspects of life and that means that I am quite often disappointed if I don’t meet up to them. My default setting is to be positive and optimistic but I must admit, even I have a few too many challenges recently to keep this up 24/7.
The trouble is with high expectations is that if the outcome is worse than expected, you set yourself up for frustration. If you lower your expectations and the outcome is better than expected, you are grateful. Many say that our happiness is linked to expectations because it is linked to whether things are going worse or better than expected.
Instead of New Year resolutions, I am going to set some intentions associated with NOT putting pressure on myself. I am sharing them in this blog so that anyone reading this can challenge me if I fall of the wagon!
I am not going to make any social or travel plans that assume that our current restrictions will be lifted – then when our freedom is returned, I can make all the plans I want without fear of them being cancelled
I am not going to give up alcohol or coffee or any type of food this January because this really isn’t the time for deprivation and there really does have to be something to look forward to!
I am going to keep up this well-being blog because I enjoy it and it helps me but I probably won’t do it every week – just when I have something I want to write about
I accept that I will have good days and bad days and that is absolutely fine but I do want to keep up a positive attitude for myself and others
I am going to try not to overthink everything (this is a recurring pledge every year but I will keep repeating it)
I won’t beat myself up so much for not having tidied the house or nailed puppy training or any of the other things that I convince myself I should be doing
In the meantime I am going to try to accept the way things are and the way I am and try to embrace 2021 whatever it brings. Whatever 2020 was, it was certainly different and a fascinating study into the way we humans react to changes in circumstance.
