A new year is upon us, and so is the inundation of “new year, new me.” That’s not a completely horrible sentiment, but most people are not in need of a complete life/personality overhaul (there are some outliers).
Instead of putting all of your eggs in 2025’s basket, why not look at it as: “New year, improved me”?
I’m of the opinion that there’s always room for growth and improvement. That’s one of the major factors that makes me not mind continually tacking numbers onto my age.
Rather than having an all-or-nothing mentality, ask yourself how you want to improve and then create steps on how to get there. Instead of saying, “I’m only eating healthy,” try swapping out one sugary treat with a fruit or vegetable per day. Once you’re in a rhythm with that, increase as you see fit.
Or not. Just swapping out that one thing is still an improvement, so good for you!
There’s a good deal of pressure around a new year, whether it be from copious social media posts or companies using this as a marketing vehicle. But keep in mind that a new year is just a change of the calendar. When the clock strikes midnight, not much changes (outside of prices of certain things going up and other terms and conditions getting an annual update).
So perhaps look at this as an opportunity to refresh rather than revamp. Even if you set a goal and fall off, there’s nothing that says you can’t pick up a resolution mid-year. If you really want a new year to be “your year,” make it so.
Whatever your goals for 2025, I hope it’s a year that brings joy and laughter. It’ll never cease to amaze me how quickly these years go. To that point, this is somehow the fourth anniversary of this column. It feels like only last week that it started when it was over 200 weeks ago.
Whether you’ve read only this column or all 200-plus, I’m grateful for your time, and thank you for joining me on this journey. Happy New Year!