With the new year coming up, I can’t help but feel that all the natter about fresh starts and new beginnings is a little infectious. I don’t really believe in resolutions as such- they’re just meant to be broken- but its nice to feel that there is a point where I can start fresh less arbitrarily (and with more support, at least initially) than if I were to decide I needed to overhaul some aspect of my life in, say, August.
I know that for a lot of people in my life, starting afresh is all about taking on something new. This is why gyms are packed in January. However, as you know, I don’t have a problem with taking on new things. Instead, a fresh start is all about getting rid of something, or things, that I’ve been hanging on to much longer than necessary. Usually these things are emotional because of my slightly OCD tendencies toward cleanliness and organization materially. Talk about overcompensating! But, because of my natural affinity to emotionally hoard, it is REALLY hard for me to let go of thoughts, dreams, regrets and feelings, positive, negative or anywhere along the spectrum in between. Maybe that’s because these are the things that make me me, as silly as that sounds. Cogito ergo sum, and all that. (Thanks, Descartes.) I’m also a terrible dreamer, and don’t really live in the real world all the time. This was cute when I was 7 and pretending to be Amish, but at 25 I need to get with the program and realize that daydreaming that about things that won’t, can’t, shouldn’t or wouldn’t happen is unproductive and, at times, limiting realistic options that could be just as great- not least of which because they could really happen.
There are a few things I think I’m finally ready to let go of- but as silly as it sounds, letting them go is going to be just as uncomfortable, and probably at times painful, as taking on a new workout routine or the financial resolutions that TIME Magazine recommended I try. (Maybe next year on those financial resolutions, ha!) I guess I just have to remember: challenge is change. And unlike a lot of resolutions, which have tangible results, these are going to be hard to stick to because it just takes one stray thought and I’m back on the same slippery slope toward dreamland…
Do you have any resolutions to take into the new year? What will you be adding on, or letting go of?