I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s no need for me to make New Year’s resolutions if I just keep trying my best.
If you try your best, you can do no more. For me personally, I know that I always try to give 100% in whatever I do. I’m pretty self-motivated and self-disciplined. I would definitely describe myself as a perfectionist.
Why don’t I make any resolutions then if I know I’m the type of person that will stick to them?
Being a hardworking perfectionist comes with its own set of problems.
- Never knowing when to stop and rest
- Persistently beating yourself up
- Enough is never enough
Basically I put enough pressure on myself most of the time that I don’t need the added pressure and stress of resolutions. In fact most people I know are the same.
We all know resolutions are supposed to be realistic. The problem is we are all trying to have it all and do it all. We expect so much of ourselves that even when we think we are being realistic we are actually setting ourselves up to fail. On January 1st 2019, 2020 will seem SO far away. It’s easy to get carried away and commit yourself to achieving an inordinate amount of things in the year ahead.
I’ve come to realise as I’ve got older that not all things can be planned down to a tee. As a teenage girl I had ideas of what I wanted to accomplish by different ages. No surprise that I wanted to have done it all by the time I was 30. Why 30? What’s supposed to happen after 30?! Well I guess at 14 I just couldn’t imagine myself being any older than 30 (the horror!)
At 28 years old with 2 years ahead until the big 30 it’s safe to say I’m going to need a lot more time.
Will there ever be enough time to get to where we want to be when we keep moving the goal posts?
This is another reason for me to ditch resolutions because I am constantly looking forward. I successfully reach a goal but rather than celebrate I’m straight on to the next thing that I need to do.
There will always be something else we are waiting for and things do not happen as fast as we would like them to. We have barriers like not having enough money or time. Life sometimes gets in the way with unexpected surprises.
When it comes to health and fitness we want results EVEN faster. We’ve all stepped on the scales to find that inexplicably we’ve only lost 1 pound that week despite going to an exercise class on Thursday and turning down a bun at work on Friday! “BUT I WAS GOOD ALL WEEK?!” And speaking of exercise when will it start feeling easier exactly?!
So you start thinking to yourself, “What’s the point in me trying then, I might as well not bother!”
BOOM, you’ve got yourself another reason to steer clear of resolutions.
Resolutions are there to be broken.
With a simple try your best approach you have a different attitude. There is no finish line you are trying to reach. You aren’t failing to reach a target. It’s a journey, it’s a lifestyle and it’s never ending.
Especially with health and fitness we should be making changes for life not doing things temporarily for a quick fix.
Looking ahead towards 2019 I’m still aiming high. I can’t change the fact I’m a perfectionist and I certainly will never stop enjoying ticking things off my to-do list! BUT I don’t need to stick to any new year’s resolutions to feel good about myself. There’s no better time to be happy than right now.
