New Years “not” resolutions

            Happy New Year you beautiful people!! You made it to 2022, and after the last couple of years we’ve all had (and in case no one else has said it) I’m so proud of you! But it’s a New Year, so that means that you need to rebrand yourself and come up with some resolutions, right? WRONG. I despise New Year’s resolutions, for a couple of really really valid reasons. For starters, if there is some aspect of your life that you truly want to change, why are you waiting for a particular day to make that change? It’s not gonna be any easier to start going to the gym on January 1 than it will be on December 29^th (actually, it’ll probably be worse because there will be more people there). Second, I find that resolutions often last about a week, if that long. I have two theories about why they don’t last. One is that people have a resolution, but no plan to follow through with it whatsoever. A goal without a plan is just a wish. The other reason that I think people don’t follow through on their resolutions is they pick things that are unachievable with their current lifestyle. For example, I would love to spend more time reading. But if I made a new year resolution to read a book a week that sounds great! But between school and work, where exactly am I supposed to find this time? And then the resolution becomes a chore instead of something you enjoy. 

            So while it’s pretty clear that I’m not a fan of resolutions, I did want to set an intention for myself in 2022. Now before you get ahead of yourself, no I’m not just swapping out the words. Resolutions are much more concrete, while intentions are more of a general rule that you’ll TRY to follow through with. My intention for this upcoming year is to add more variety to my routines. After all, variety is the spice of life, right?

            I am such a creature of habit. It’s so bad that I crave particular food on specific days. Ask my boyfriend, if he has to pick me up a Bojangles four-piece supreme combo with seasoned fries, a biscuit, and sweet tea at 3:00 on another Saturday he’s probably going to lose my mind. By the way, I totally get this from my dad. The man measures out his coffee creamer so that he knows it will taste the same every morning. Now don’t get me wrong I love my routines and habits! They provide me with a lot of comfort, but I want to try and step out of my comfort zone and explore new things. Without ever stepping out of your habits, you may not know if there are new things that you might like. A lot of my experiences freshman year of college taught me that. One thing that I especially learned (besides that my favorite flavor of howling cow is definitely cherry brick road) is that the experiences that you don’t enjoy are just as important as the ones you love. Sure doing something you don’t like isn’t ideal, but college is the perfect opportunity to try it. Because if you hate it, guess what? You NEVER have to do it again. But if I hadn’t tried new things in my freshman year I wouldn’t have learned that I love cardio dance, that chickpeas are my favorite protein on a salad, or that basketball games are just as fun as football. 

Here is why I think this intention will work a lot better than a “resolution”. So instead of setting a goal for myself like “go to the gym four times a week” I can be flexible in how I choose to add variety to my life. Let me give you some examples. I have probably had the exact same makeup routine since I started college, and I’m a senior. Elf camo concealer and Benefit Rollerlash have yet to fail me. Don’t get me wrong, I love those products and the way that I do my makeup, but there are SO many new things I can try out that I might love too. And it’s also maybe an excuse to buy some new makeup. Another thing that I want to try is to walk in different places. Due to a recent injury, most of my exercise comes in the form of walking, and my favorite place is Lake Johnson Park (seriously if you’ve never been, please go it’s so beautiful). But Raleigh is so full of greenways and nice parks, there’s no real reason why I should be going to the same place every single day. My last idea right now is to change up my food! Bojangles is just one of the examples of food I’m stuck on. But I love cooking and trying new recipes, I just need to get in the habit of doing it! 

Those are just a few of the ways that I’m going to try and add variety to my life this year. I’m sure I’ll come across many others as the year goes on. To me, an intention like this feels much more achievable than a New Years’ resolution. So if you’re like me and you hate resolutions or are even just looking for a way to switch it up, try setting an intention instead!