Almost halfway through the first month of 2019 – isn’t that just exciting to say? After sporadically posting (or not posting) for the last couple of months, I have returned home where I intend on drastically improving my publishing habits. So, expect to see me a lot more often bringing you new literature and lifestyle content!
Before the year was over I took to Instagram to ask the question: what are you leaving behind in 2018? Without having any set answers, I was curious to see what bad habits people wished to rid themselves in this period of self-betterment that usually lasts around 2 months. Further questioning how we would transform the statistic that states that 80% of new year’s resolutions fail by February? What would your 2019 actually look like if you continuously stayed dedicated to your resolutions, strengthened them as the months went by and overall kept them in the forefront of our minds?
Beyond the hacks and tricks that you’ll find on googled titled: “How to Make your New Year’s Resolutions Stick” and “How to Keep your New Year’s Resolutions” I would like to stretch my findings to a comment from one of my very good friends, Bella Ntete: “I don’t like to think that I am leaving anything behind when we go into the new year. I always think about “what am I going to do differently” … It’s hard to drop [habits] completely, just with a change of date for me it’s easier to commit to working towards something every day”
For a long time, my New Year’s Resolutions looked like:
Stop talking over others (2009)
Stop fighting with my brother (2011)
Stop going to class late (2013)
Stop being involved in drama (2015)
Stop being anxious (2017)
Stop self-sabotaging (2018)
The list could go on with what I wanted to stop doing, what others wanted me to stop doing. This year is when I began to question what I wanted my life to look like. What did I want to start or improve on? Instead of stopping all those things (only half of which I actually stopped) what did I want to include in my life on a daily basis to make myself a person I am prouder of.
Which is why with this observance of trends and Bella’s thoughtful words my New Year’s Resolutions all start with the word: MORE. Easy enough to say right? MORE sleep and MORE dessert. Well, how about MORE mindful breathing and MORE writing with your heart. MORE reading into the world around you and MORE exercise of the body. Every day so far, I have tried to do more of one of those things. I might not instantly stop the cycle of self-sabotage, but with MORE mindful breathing I can begin to notice the warning signs and actively work on those. I may not banish my anxiety to the furthest corners of the universe, but with MORE writing with my heart, I self-soothe and give myself perspective.
I wish all of you reading this an inspiring January. Finally, I would like to leave you with my 2019 affirmation, inspired by Kukhanya Magubane:
This year we’re embracing the beauty.
