Another Year, a Time to Reflect
As the hands of clocks or the digits on electronic devices move towards Midnight, what will we take with us into 2019? Reflection is important as it helps us focus on what went well in life and how to we maintain that pattern of behaviour. Where there is joy, there will always be pain. We remove the negative elements and step into a new year with hope and positive energy.
We are bombarded with messages telling us that the very first day of a new year signifies new beginnings - new job, new eating habits, new fitness regime, new everything. What newspaper and magazine editors, Vloggers, Bloggers, diet specialists, gyms, fitness gurus et al do NOT tell you is that these changes take time. We are all a Work in Progress. The aim is always to do better than the year before, tweak things here and there but not to be put under pressure to make so many changes in one hit. This is unrealistic. Every day is a new beginning.
Focus on what went well and press “repeat”. Eliminate the negatives, but do so slowly - it takes on average 21 days to erase a habit. This could be a habit that has been present since childhood, so stay strong - there is no hurry.
If you’ve never written a diary or kept lists, now is a good time to start. This time next year you will look back on how much you achieved, it’s surprising just how helpful that can be. With “instant” everything, life lessons and experiences can be kept or deleted forever. Instagram has become a popular way to document life events.
Make the most of the last day of 2018, nothing changes on the 1st of January, you just get the opportunity to have 365 days to make a difference.