It is always a special time when the past year comes to an end and a new one begins. We reflect on what has passed and look into the future at what is to come. Many of us choose to make New Year’s resolutions and go charging into the new year with so much motivation and energy. 

Unfortunately, the drive we initially have often leaves us quite quickly. Here is what I’ve learned over the years of setting resolutions:

Some resolutions take years of work. I started my yoga journey over 10 years ago. Sometimes practicing more regularly and sometimes more sparingly. It was my goal for many New Year's to finally do a 30-day yoga challenge. It never worked out until I started letting go of the strict rules. Three years ago I decided to do the challenge not in January but in the middle of the year. And if I missed a day I would just continue the next. Two years ago I did start in January and didn’t make it all the way to the end. But I wasn’t ready to give up. Last year was the first year where I completed the 30-day challenge starting on January 1st. There were some days when I did two sessions because I had missed a day, but in the end, I was incredibly proud. All these years have led up to 2024, where I’m confident that I will complete this year's challenge.

So be patient with yourself. Keep on trying and make adjustments where needed. Find what works for you. Eventually, you will have done all the groundwork to finally achieve what you set out to do.

Eating healthy or at least healthier is a resolution for many and it also has been for me. I’ve struggled with health problems which was my main motivation. Again, I started by doing smaller challenges during the year such as eating gluten-free for a month, not drinking alcohol for a month, etc. Last year I finally wanted to take the plunge and do a full reset in January. That meant no gluten, no lactose, no alcohol, no coffee, and no sugar. I only managed this because I was not doing it alone and because I had a really good reason to try this out. Also, I ended up becoming a little lenient with coffee which helped me a lot to pull through in all other areas. I felt amazing at the end and I was able to keep some of the good habits for a couple of months. 

You must have a very strong reason to do something, especially if it’s quite drastic. Having a buddy to share the experience with and to keep you on track is paramount.

Finally, I’ve had a standing yearly reading challenge. I love books, so this was never a hard one for me. I started with wanting to read 24 books in 2021. I got to 28. In 2022 I challenged myself to read 30 books and got to 31. In 2023 the plan was 32 books and I ended up reading a total of 39. This year, I was tempted to set the goal to 40, but I decided on 36. 3 books per month should be doable for me without having to cheat and read short books. 

It’s always a good choice to set a resolution, goal, or challenge for something that you love. And this is also what inspired me to write this blog post. My sister teaches a wonderful course called the Journey to Your Essence, which we are bringing to Magic is the Key this January. It is all about stripping away layers of ourselves, to get to the core of who we truly are. Layers that were put on us by our family, layers created through society and the culture we live in, layers we have created ourselves. 

With all those layers gone, who are we deep inside? And can we live our lives in inner alignment? If so, do we really need resolutions?