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2025: Letting Go of Resolutions

A few months ago I began a creative workbook entitled “The Artist Way”. Perhaps you’ve heard of this book, but if not the workbook is centered around discovering and recovering one's creative self and becoming more in tune with your inner artist. One of the main exercises this book touts is the act of Morning Pages. Each morning, before I’ve done anything else, I sit down to write three full pages in a notebook- a stream of consciousness, allowing whatever may come up to arise.

My meditation and journaling zone.
My meditation and journaling zone.

In the past I have often found it difficult to stick to a daily practice, allowing my all-or-nothing mentality to hinder me in these practices. So it was to my surprise that for the past two and a half months I have sat nearly every single morning to write these pages, only forgetting to do so a couple of times. While reflecting on this I began to wonder what made this practice different from the seemingly countless I have tried to establish previously.


As I sat with this realization a few thoughts came to mind: prioritization and loosened rigidity. I made a commitment to myself that these Morning Pages were a top priority, regardless of what else I had to get done during the day. The added action that made this practice easier to follow through on was loosening the grip of the all-or-nothing mentality that has dominated my mind for as long as I can recall. In the past, I would have told myself that these pages NEEDED to be done each morning. I may stick with the habit for a week or two but would mentally beat myself up if I were to miss a single day. Not a kind emotion to make a habit out of, I know.


The more I focus on the present moment, the less often I find myself reverting back to the all-or-nothing thought process. It is as if this way of thinking is a muscle that I am intentionally weakening, allowing self-love, grace, and balance to take its place.


While mulling over these thoughts a few weeks ago, I wondered how to bring this mentality into the year ahead. For the past decade, I have personally been making numerous New Year resolutions. These often lofty goals have helped me excel in many areas of my life but they have also added an air of seemingly endless to-dos to my days. Rather than softening into relaxation, I am instead met with the idea that there are tasks to be done, goals to be met, and no room for error.


So this year, instead of making resolutions or intentions, I’ve decided to focus on making priorities for the year ahead. What do I want to spend time doing? What goals would I enjoy working towards?


For some this word adjustment may seem pointless, as if it's merely resolutions being rebranded. But for me, the distinction comes from the approach itself. When we let go of needing to do EVERYTHING on these lists EVERY SINGLE DAY, we may just find that this flexibility allows us to be more consistent and present in these practices. We may find more joy in the goals/ practices/ habits that once felt like a chore to check off a list. Rather than beating ourselves up for a missed day or ‘falling behind’ on a goal, may we instead be gentle to ourselves, to our inner artist.


Perhaps today you forgot to complete a practice you wanted to, alas, there is always tomorrow. A missed day, week, or even month does not negate all previous work we have done, it does not deem us unworthy, and it does not warrant negative self-talk. Instead, may we approach this moment with curiosity. Why did this habit/practice not get done? Did you forget? Procrastinate? Not find the time? Whatever the reason may be, allow it to be a clue as to how to make this habit work for you. Whether it's setting an alarm, waking up a few minutes earlier, or carving out a space in your home that you can return to time and time again, it's about creating systems that work for you and your life. There is freedom in embodying the realization that we are truly all different. May this be the year that we recognize this sentiment; discovering and recovering the habits that allow us to show up and be in tune with our creative self, our inner child, our inner artist.


For me, the new year is not about finding the ‘new me’. Instead, it is a time to remember who I truly am and gently return to the habits that help me be my authentic self. I am allowing 2025 to be the year of true presence and unwavering trust in myself, my dreams, and my inner artist. The better we know ourselves, the more effortless it becomes to follow our curiosities and create systems that allow us to thrive.

תגובות


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