Hoping To Change Your Life? Be Careful.
Can you get there without beating yourself up?
I was 23 when I liked a salad for the first time. And we’ll come back to that.
The honeymoon phase of a New Year’s Resolution can be an incredibly happy and instructive time. Personally, I love the New Relationship Energy (NRE) that comes from setting and initially following through on a just-born goal. And at the same time, I know that the longest this chemistry between myself and Doing Certain Chores on Certain Days of the Week (my current goal) will only last until the first wrench gets thrown into my schedule, which will probably happen in the third week of January. In March, I’ll look back wistfully at this time, eyeing the sauce-crusted stovetop and remembering how optimistic I was that every Thursday the kitchen would be spotless.
I tend to advise people not to get too ambitious with a January goal, because Nature is against you in January. It isn’t your fault that it’s still so dark! NRE has some powerful chemistry, but it’s no match for Winter. Winter doesn’t care that you wanted to have six-pack abs by Summer. Winter doesn’t give two figs about anything Summer-related. Winter is going to be cold and dark, and so what if you were going to go for a 45-minute walk at dawn every day? “HAHAHA,” says Winter.
