My Top 3: New Year Intentions

Might as well

My Top 3 is a weekly post where I count down three things I love in a random category. This week, we’re looking at my top three new year intentions.

I used to be that person that always set impossible new year’s resolutions to accomplish. Lose a lot of weight? Sure! Get up every morning at 6AM to do stuff? Why not? Become an entirely different person in a few weeks? Of course! Obviously, it never worked. All of my resolutions were setting myself up for failure. In a matter of weeks, nothing had changed, I was disappointed in myself, and I thought that my failures reflected on my personal character.

A few years ago, I decided to be done with all of that. Why go in to the year in a way that only makes me unhappy? That doesn’t sound enjoyable or productive. Now, I don’t do resolutions at all. I don’t set lofty goals to accomplish in short time lines. But, I do want to take advantage of the wave of energy I feel in the new year. There’s something about starting fresh that makes me want to do things.

I’ve found that the best way to harness that energy is to set intentions. They are not resolutions, per se, but more a direction I would like to head. There’s no end point or even path I need to follow. There is just the general aim I want to reach for. I’ve found that simply picking a direction without any “ideal” end point has helped me harness energy and minimize disappointment.