January often brings a wave of the familiar “new year, new me” mumbo-jumbo that fills social media feeds and most conversations. There is a rush to share motivational quotes and personal declarations of transformation, often nudged along by the latest social media influencers touting their own resolutions for clicks, views, and likes. Finding new careers, working on their fitness social media isn’t always as it seems.
Gym membership sign-ups hit an all-time high as countless individuals commit to achieving their fitness goals; whilst others give up alcohol, albeit just for January; how else would we cope? Amongst this flurry of activity, family members and friends persistently enquire about your New Year’s resolutions — what changes you plan to make and how you envision bettering yourself in the upcoming year. This cycle of questioning and expectation has become a longstanding tradition, reoccurring like clockwork. Well, let me tell you, I am perfectly happy as I am. Thank you very much!… Or am I?
So, how do I achieve my goals?
If I were to nit-pick and went in hard on myself, I could lose a couple of pounds (alright, a dozen). If I were forced to find something, I could say that maybe I could spend money a little more wisely; after all, how many kitchen gadgets does one person need? I accept that I have too many takeaways and too much fast food (leaving the kitchen gadgets mostly redundant), and overall, I should make more effort with, well, everything. But that’s just life, isn’t it? There are always peaks and troughs – ups and downs, accepting the rough and the smooth.
Uncomfortably, this is one of those instances where the more you think of it, the worse it gets. This self-reflection malarky will have you hating the person you are, if you aren’t too careful. Not everybody is blessed with grade-A quality genes; people, real people, not these bronzed, beautiful social media scallywags, have real-world issues. We work, we have financial worries, we have children to support, and quite frankly, we’re generally drained and exhausted. Dolly Parton said, “If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one” – Well I’m sorry Dolly, most normal people are far too busy, to be concerning themselves with paving new roads, we’re just lucky to survive the day and we just crave our heads hitting the pillow at the end of each day.
Small Steps…
I wonder if you could take small steps, in making things not seem so bad. Maybe, you could look at small, manageable chunks? Things to make you feel better about things overall. I wonder whether once you’re over the “change to the system” hurdle, then the teeny tiny adjustments could benefit you. Instead of finding a new career you learn a new skill towards it.
Firstly, a good place to start would be to realise that this is about making you feel better about yourself. It is not a competition to be like anybody else, this is about making you feel more like you. Everybody has dreams and ambitions. When we were carefree children, there were hobbies and enjoyment to be found in all kinds of random places, but we slowly lost that as we plod along and let the system grind us down. Our greatest commodities these days, are our health, financial stability, energy and time – so my first baby step, is trying to maximise these assets. I suppose you can start by looking inwardly at how you waste these things.
Instead of scrolling for hours each day on Facebook or Instagram, trying to see how the other half lives, why don’t we try and get on and live ourselves? Not so you can plaster it on the internet for likes and mentions, but so you can spend all of this wasted time doing something you enjoy doing. I think that is the first major step, stop wasting what you have.
Finding your feet
Once you’ve realised that you are wasting time. You’ll find that you do have more hours in the day to be productive and get things done. You will find that you are eager again, ready to tackle the days. Not a brain-numbed scroller wishing for things, but a doer, achieving them!
So, why don’t we try getting more things in order? Maybe I should start by looking at the dozen (or so) pounds we discovered I needed to lose earlier. After the self-reflection, I find myself wanting to shift it. It doesn’t have to be at an expensive gym watching a bunch of fitter people get fitter. Start small and why not kill two birds with one stone? Let’s take the dog on longer walks each day (they’ll appreciate it), or you can walk to the shops rather than drive. Maybe it’s time to embrace the great outdoors and get some cost-free exercise.
Following on from this, your body is a temple, and the fuel you put in it will have a big impact on how it performs. Cutting down on fast food and quick takeaways and substituting them with healthier, more nutritious meals that your body requires would only have a beneficial impact, and when you couple this with more exercise, you are well on the right track.
Snowballing
It is quite strange that once you’ve addressed one small step. Then the consequential strides towards improvement come thick and fast. They then snowball into the next because you genuinely feel better about yourself. So, how about getting more organised? Plan, plan, plan – make a few goals. Set your sights on something, and don’t be afraid to give it a go. What is the worst that can happen? Once you have found that little bit of confidence, perhaps it is an opportunity to look at some of the bigger things in life.
When you sit and think about it, we spend an awfully long time working. It’s common to fall into the trap of going through the motions and wishing the working week away – living for the weekends. Only to get a sense of dread on a Sunday afternoon. Life doesn’t have to be this way. The world is full of opportunities and finding new careers. Who is to say that the decision you made during a 25-minute career advice talk at school when you were fifteen. Would be the path you choose to walk down for the rest of your life? Maybe you need a dose of life experience to understand what your skills are. What you offer the world and how great you could be at something that you didn’t even know existed whilst you were fifteen.
Learn while you earn
You owe it to yourself to spend your time doing what makes you happy. Life is too short and often too miserable to spend forty hours of the week doing something that just doesn’t fit anymore. If that means taking a step backwards to get a few steps ahead, then you should absolutely do this. The world is your oyster.
Fortunately, the world is full of opportunities to take a step back and assess where you would want to be. Although we don’t have a time machine to go back to when we were fifteen and set off towards a different path. These days there are opportunities to study to gain the qualifications that would allow you to go in a different direction, maybe Dolly had a point after all?
There are opportunities to study online, retake your IGCSEs and A Levels. Then you could go to university, either in person or online. You could even venture into a different field entirely, a totally different direction when you feel ready for it. It is flexible, so you can learn whilst you work and squeeze the studies around your lifestyle.
Just making small adjustments, can make a huge impact. Not everybody gets it right the first time around ( I know I certainly didn’t). People find the places that they are meant to be at different stages of life and that is totally fine. What is important is that you are not afraid to give it a go.
