Why I Don’t Do New Years Resolutions

January 2nd. Your social media feeds have been filled with "new year, new me" and your friends' top moments of 2018 via 78 clicks on their IG stories. (Seriously.. when and why did that become a thing?!)

I've made new years resolutions in the past, but I stopped. The reason? I don't want to feel like a failure. I think we often set these "resolutions" that we can never live up to. Impossible standards to meet. Radical behavioral changes that only last for 3 weeks then you're back to your old self again.

Instead, I prefer to reflect back on my past 365 and set goals for my next. Realistic changes I can commit to. Things I want to accomplish both personally and professionally with a date attached. Then I break those goals down into individual months. I want to read more? Great, I plan to start and finish a book each month. I want to spend less time on social media? I have to give myself a time limit each day and stick to that. Focus more on my health and wellness? I have to give myself a bed time to ensure I'm getting enough sleep and meal prep so I don't get stuck eating out too much when I get busy.

Looking back on my 2018.. it's crazy to think of where I started and where I ended. One year brought me some of the biggest changes of my life. Job changes, turned 30, moved cities, bought my first house, met amazing people and experienced a close death for the first time.

When you sit back and think of how much can change in a year, it makes you realize how much you can choose to change for yourself in 2019. Whether that is through resolutions or intentional goal setting, the most important thing I keep learning over and over again is that we have to embrace change. We have to adjust our schedules and lives and goals to accommodate change. Because resisting change does not help us evolve.

And that's what we're really trying to do in life, right? Evolve and better ourselves, one year and one day at a time.