Resolutions do not have to begin on New Year’s Day

New year, new you. This is one of those cliches that tends to start popping up every year after Christmas. And stores of course capitalize on this. I went out yesterday to see if I could get some awesome Christmas cards for cheaper next year and discovered whole sections of stores devoted on exercise DVDS, yoga mats, and water bottles. While I certainly encourage getting fit, as I am constantly trying to stay on a routine myself, I feel like a lot of us get suckered into this idea that we have to change every new year. Clearly there is something awful about all of us and thus we need to update ourselves in the new year.

Granted, sometimes maybe we do need to change. Lord knows there are a lot of pounds I want to move off my thighs and onto the ground somewhere. I’ve been suckered into buying more than I need though in an attempt to lose weight and the truth is all I probably needed was to start walking like I did last year. The other part I need to tackle again is trying to fit in more snacks, healthy snacks, and smaller portions. I know what I need to do, but I don’t always follow this ideal. That’s okay, sometimes. Moderation is key. This is of course something I also know that around this time of year gets thrown out the window. Stupid holiday weight!

One of the biggest aspects of my life that I wanted to change was and is to write more. Last year, as many years before, I told myself in order to write better I should also start reading more. Yes, sometimes those novels are quick reads that I know are not going to make me gain anything but a good story, but I’ve tried to concentrate on books that expand my mind. Most of this has occurred in vocabulary. I have also noticed I tend to ponder what I will write more than before. Does this sentence make sense? Does it need to be there? Etc. As of this week I will have read fifty-two books this year. This seems completely insane to me. I went from reading articles online to fifty-two books.

I bring this up because when I started reading again, I told a friend there is no way I can make it to fifty-two books this year. I’ll be happy if I can just reach the goal I set on Goodreads. My goal was thirty. At the time I felt this was beyond a lofty goal, but I wanted to attain it! I yearned to be sucked into a fictional world for good or bad. And sometimes the books I chose to read made me cry or touched me in ways I never imagined. Of course sometimes these books left me narrowing my eyes at some of the characters and wishing I could throw the book across the room. Logical? Not really, especially when some of these books were read on my Kindle.

This has kind of made me realize that sometimes something that seems impossible is quite possible. So in this upcoming year I’m going to continue focusing on me. People need to realize that in doing so that does not make you selfish. In fact, it’s the opposite. Wanting to better yourself in one way or another is important. Learning is important. Failure important. These things should make us want to grow even more. So I’m going to learn, I’m more than likely going to fail some, but I’m not giving up. This in a lot of ways started back in September. I started walking. I gained a routine. I need to get back into that routine, which I somewhat started again yesterday.

All of this goes back to a tweet I saw by Sean Patrick Flanery earlier this year. Someone had asked him what he thought of resolutions, and while this is not a direct quote, he said that if you really want something you don’t wait to start it. And I couldn’t help but think he’s right. And it’s never too late in the year to start it. After all, I started reading more in mid-January this year, and writing more again toward the end of September. I’ve read more and more about how people I admire now did not get their start until later on in life.

These are all things that have inspired me this year. These are the tidbits that have me latching onto them and realizing while I am not living the life I once thought I’d have when I was younger there’s still hope. I can still attain some goals I once thought lost. And that is one of the most important lessons anyone can take away from life. That’s why I cannot help but think as cliche as new year, new you is…if we truly work on us all year we kind of are a new person by the end of it. We all grow in some way, I’m just determined to grow in a positive manner and I refuse to let anyone, including my anxiety, stand in the way of my progress.