New Year’s Resolutions ≠ Weight Loss
As we say goodbye to the past year and hello to the new one, it’s extremely common for us to pick a new year’s resolution. We choose a promise or a goal that gives us something to aim for in the year to come. Sadly, due to insidious and pervasive marketing campaigns by the diet companies out there, for the majority of the population, those resolutions concern losing weight.
We may dress it up in other ways, talk about “getting in shape” or “stop eating crap”, or even “get fitter”, but if we’re honest, at its core, we mean we want to lose weight. It makes me sad that so many people focus on being less, not more. Why should our resolutions be about shrinking our bodies instead of growing as people, actively trying to make ourselves and our lives better?
With that in mind, I’ve drafted out my resolutions for this year. Not just a single resolution, but many all designed to improve my life and help me to achieve my goals. Feel free to steal some or all of them if they appeal to you. If you’ve come up with different ones, pop them in the comments 🙂
A Note About New Year’s Resolutions
I don’t want to seem like a dick, but from personal experience, many new year’s resolutions fail because they are too vague and woolly. I include myself in this. We’ve all sat through training sessions on goal setting and zoned out, but there are nuggets of wisdom in there.
I’m not going to give you a lecture here but check out this image and bear each point in mind when setting your goals. For example, my goal was to do a push-up with perfect form. Not “get in shape” or “get stronger” because they could mean anything. I need a specific goal, something I can measure, with a time limit, and most importantly, is realistic.
I could have said, “I want to do a push-up” with perfect form by next week. It would be specific, measurable and time-bound, but it’s sure as heck not realistic!
When you set your new year’s resolutions, I encourage you to bear these principles in mind. Specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound.
New Year’s Resolutions That Aren’t Related To Weight Loss
Full Year
These resolutions will take time, so I’ve given myself a whole year to complete them.
- Pay off my credit card. The balance is around £3000 at the moment. It’s a lot, but if I keep up my writing for clients on Upwork, I should be able to ensure I pay the £250 a month necessary to achieve this goal. I’ve got a 0% interest period to help with this. Of course, the essential rule is NO spending on it from now on.
- Try six new vegetables this year. I’m already pretty adventurous with my veg, but there are still some I haven’t tried. Kohlrabi and Celeriac are the first two on the list. As a bonus, I’m also going to research new recipes that use these vegetables. Information request! I follow Dr Keira Nyemb-Diop, known as the black nutritionist, on IG. She talks about collard greens a lot. This isn’t a vegetable I’ve ever seen in the UK. Do they have a different name, and how close are they to other greens like kale or spring greens? All answers welcome!
- Achieve the monthly goal on my Apple Watch for the whole year. I’ve completed every one since November 2020, so I want to keep the streak going. My January challenge is to close my rings every day this month.
January
Complete my proofreading assessment. I started a course with The Proofreading Academy over a year ago with the goal of getting more proofreading work to supplement the income from my writing. The assessment is about 80% finished, so I have set myself a target of handing it in by the end of January.
April 5th
Complete my accounts. April 5th is the end of the tax year in the UK. I’ve already completed one tax return since working as a writer. It’s pretty easy as my income streams are Upwork and Medium, and I have a record of all payments stored in my accounts. However, people do get visits from the taxman, so it will be much easier if I have my company accounts spick and span. I have about 18 months of transactions to enter, so I’d better get cracking!
June
Do a proper push-up with perfect form. I’ve set myself strength-building goals for a long time and have not achieved them. This has been due to illness, covid, busy getting my writing business off the ground, covid, chronic fatigue, covid…you get the idea! That’s why this year, my only fitness-based new year’s resolution other than meeting my Apple Watch challenges is to do a proper push-up.
I have read so many books and watched videos, so I know the theory and proper form. I also worked with a trainer in the past. So now I just have to do it! I think I’ll return to my old favourite, Nerd Fitness and use their guide, but I’ll probably go through my Meg Boggs and Nia Shanks books too. I love those ladies; they are so inspirational and empowering!
September
I want to have 200 stories published on Medium. I’m currently at 81, and this piece makes 82! That means I’ll need to post 118 new articles. I know many of you could have that cranked out in a few months, but I work full time. I have writing clients too and want to help around the house, cook, spend time with my family, and of course, my cats and maybe even have a little downtime! Something has to give.
The whole point of my new year’s resolutions this year is that they are realistic. Next year, I want to get to this time and feel a glow of satisfaction at what I’ve achieved. There’s no point setting myself up to fail before I’ve even begun by setting unrealistic targets.
Final Thoughts
As a “fat chick”, you’ll notice that I have not ignored healthy eating or fitness in my new year’s resolutions. I simply chose not to make weight loss a focus. I believe it leads to an unhealthy mindset and way of eating.
I do plan to work on being healthier this year and have started with a long walk around a local beauty spot called Northumberlandia. I’ve also been building lots of delicious veggies into my meal and cutting back on Christmas sweets.
Above all, I want to be strong and be amazed at what my body can do. In short, I wanna feel like a badass! I believe all of you can achieve whatever you set your minds to as well. Happy New Year everyone!!
