Pause, Sit & Think
Words Annabel Gold
Dr Annabel Gold gives us a reality check & some personal tips on how to reflectively enter the new year
Happy New Year! Have you ever sat down and wondered, what does this ‘Happy New Year’ statement actually mean to me? Is it about having a new opportunity to start again? Is it about having the fresh start of a whole new year? Is it about saying bye to a rubbish year and hello to a better one? Perhaps for some, entering a new year doesn’t mean much and isn’t that exciting. Although we all shout it to each other at 12am on 1st January, ‘Happy New Year’ is a subjective matter.
Personally, I have jettisoned making ‘new year’ resolutions, ‘new year, new me’ sounds good but isn’t as practical as we want it to be. As many of us go up and down sorting out major activities and organising new year parties, new year food, drink etc, in my heart and mind there have been a few thoughtful evaluations and reflections on the new year and what I want 2022 to look like for me. Evaluation is the engine oil progress, so whatever is evaluated enhances progression and development.
The end of a year and the start of a new one, fuels the opportunity to change positively, hence the idea behind new year resolutions. But I believe that resolutions can be for a new day, new hour or new minute. At any and every moment, the opportunity to change and be made new is always right beside us, we don’t have to necessarily wait for a new time, day or year.
My last few days of 2021 were the best days for me to sit still and observe. Despite moments of shopping and running some errands, I was able to spend adequate time reviewing and thinking on special words and advice that were given to me at pivotal moments in that year. I reflected on certain questions and answers I presented to myself. It was necessary for me to have such thoughtful reflective moments to end 2021 so that I could be clear on the attributes, resolutions and convictions that can journey with me into 2022.
Towards the end of the year, I began to draw away from social media and spend less time on Instagram especially. The feeds that come up on our media platforms subconsciously suggest ideas of how we should live and what we should look like - Even in 1 minute of scrolling through stories and pictures of another, an idea you didn't ask for has been deposited in your mind, the continuity of this can make you intellectually weak and unproductive. The first three months of the year for me will include a virtual lockdown, a pause on the scrolling and watching. This is a great practice for anyone who wants to develop more of a focus this year, it requires more quieting of the mind.
Another resolution I have for this new year isn't so new. I have decided to take the good skills, abilities and attitudes from last year and simply improve on them. For example, Last year, my ability to listen developed frequently and this year I intend to further develop that ability daily. Resolutions don’t always have to be new, they can just be improved on, so take that one thing you do or did well and do it better or do it more.
The time to set goals is when you’re motivated to keep them, not because the calendar flipped to 2022. But I guess New Year is the time when you almost can’t help but think about making new goals — Even though most people break resolutions, they talk about making them again, the triumph of hope over experience. The best way forward is to ensure that your goal has a reason, make it clear why you want to achieve this goal and define why it is so important for you to achieve it.