In the spirit of the New Year, and for the sake of beating the same dead horse everyone else is beating today, I want to reflect on resolutions and goals. I saw a post earlier today about time being nonexistent, so really, the whole concept of “New Year, New Me” could begin whenever the goal-setter wanted to. A “new year” for someone could begin in the middle of April, and goals could be measured for the following 365 days. While all that is fine and dandy, the response to the original post was what really caught my eye. Building off of the idea of nonexistent time, this person recognized the beauty in humanity’s collective desire for a new beginning and hope in a fresh start. That part is really what I liked. Because it’s true, isn’t it? We look at January 1st as a restart all because that is what the calendar tells us. Personally, I’ve had the conceptualized idea of every resolution I want to accomplish in 2025 since November. But, with Thanksgiving, and then Christmas, and traveling and eating and spending money, why start early? So, along with everyone else, I plan on a hard reset this year.

The trouble is, and maybe a lot of other people feel the same way, that I feel like every year is just a revamp of last year’s goals. Regardless of if I met them or not, my resolutions feel reused, almost like I set up a frame work four years ago and have yet to move on. Lose weight, read more, money this, relationships that… it has all become an endless loop. Now, please don’t mistake this as me being opposed to structured goals. But, for me, there is no consequence, good or bad, for meeting or not meeting my own expectations. Change this year comes from within. I know that I need to see the clear, desirable end result to each resolution I set as well as how the action steps will benefit me. That way, the process of achieving is just as important as the achievement itself.

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream” -C.S. Lewis

Winding down last semester, I made my eighth graders set SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based) goals. Pretty basic, yes, but effective as they will be heading to high school soon. The activity got me thinking about my own goals and whether or not they’d be considered “SMART.” Truthfully, almost all of my goals for the new year lack in one piece of the acronym or another, but upon deeper evaluation, I’ve decided that it’s okay. All goals, in theory, should be attainable and relevant, especially around the New Year. Time-based is a given when considered resolutions, but I took it a step further. Rather than focusing on goals that I can accomplish and move on from, I’m striving to set healthy habits that I can carry on far beyond 2025.

Part of my New Year’s Eve/Day routine has become setting up a challenge for myself, writing down my resolutions, making my budget, and creating a vision board. I attached the vision board to this post, all taken from Pinterest and combined into a collage on Canva. I am blessed to be an educator and get CanvaPro for free. Anyways, my challenge and resolutions go hand in hand. I want a clean, strong start to the year, so I jump right into establishing beneficial habits and pushing myself early. This way, I am competing against myself while taking the time to integrate tasks/practices into my everyday routine.

Focusing on a couple of key elements of life also helps me fine tune my goals and new habits. I made sure to set resolutions in the following categories: health, finances, personal, and career/hobbies. Health wise, I have separate goals that all intertwine with each other in order to push me to be my healthiest self. For the first time ever, I am not just focused on physical health and appearance. This year, my mental health is just as important, and the two obviously go hand in had. Setting financial goals is easiest when you look at the bigger picture. This year, I have more bills than I did last year because of my student loans and new car payment. As a result, my financial goal is different than last year’s, but just as important. Personal goals are the vaguest to describe because they are, obviously, individualized. For me, I have some spiritual goals as well as lifestyle pursuits for overall betterment of my life. Currently, I am at an interesting position that my long-term career goals align also with building up my hobbies. I have more to pursue outside of teaching, and I made sure to recognize that when planning my reset.

When the New Year comes around, there is so much beauty in the idea of a new beginning. However, there is also beauty in the journey that brought you here. So, reuse the resolutions you didn’t meet last year, given they’re still relevant. Push yourself harder this year where you saw progress last year. Try new things, but know there is value in what you have already done.