How to Uncover the Right New Year Resolutions for You

It’s the New Year and you know what that means?

Goal setting, New Year Resolutions, Words of the year, fresh starts.

Let’s be honest, it is more like exploding your head with all these things running through your mind.

New dreams, new to-do lists, new changes, new expectations, new standards, and lots of “getting your shit together” & “figuring things out.”

I’ll be honest, thinking about setting goals and planning and making big changes gives me the New Year’s blues.

It’s crazy overwhelming and you can’t get away from it, you see New Year stuff EVERYWHERE.

So how can we break this all down, make it simple again, and be able to leave it at that and feel good about it afterward?

Let’s start by creating the right kind of New Years Resolutions for you.

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I discovered this process because I felt just like you. Last year I felt so overwhelmed and exhausted trying to figure out how I was going to make the “perfect” year that lay ahead of me.

So I did the only thing I knew I could do to find what I needed. I asked myself.

& the answer was simple.

It wasn’t about setting goals of things I wanted to do, but about figuring out how I wanted to FEEL.

How did I want to feel throughout the year and how did I want to feel when the year was over?

Asking myself what it was that I was looking for made me realize what was really important to me, how I wanted to feel in my own life.

Once I realized what it was that I wanted, it opened a new door for me. More questions and exploring came into my mind.

What did I feel like was missing? Or what did I feel like I needed? How would I feel if I did more of this or how would this make me feel? Is it really what I wanted?

& it was these types of questions that helped me to uncover the resolutions that felt good in my heart and I knew would help guide me through a great year ahead and lead me to my end goal of how I wanted to feel at the end of this year.

So now it’s your turn, let’s get started.

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First. Ask yourself how you feel right now?

How do you want to feel at the end of this year?

Second. Now, what do you want more of in your life?

Feelings are emotions, but they are also expressions and sensory. Tap in and visualize, place yourself into moments and feel your surroundings using your five senses, and find those emotions, notice the expressions you feel on your face and radiate from your heart.

Think about what it is that your body is craving, what is your heart craving?

Third. Write down what do you want to feel more of in your life.

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Let me walk you through a few examples.

This part can be confusing, what do I mean by “feelings?”

You might be thinking happiness, duh! Who wouldn’t want to be happy?

Let’s dive a little deeper.

Let’s get vulnerable here.

At the beginning of the year (the first time I created the right resolutions for me) I felt lost. I also felt like I wasn’t myself. A friend described it perfectly for me. I just didn’t have my “spunk” anymore. I felt like I was missing that light inside of me. What I wanted to feel that year ahead was the light inside of me again. I wanted my spunk back. I wanted to feel like myself: goofy, lighthearted, fun, radiant.

So one of my resolutions I wrote down that year was this:

“To find myself again, to find that light inside of me again and let it shine for the world to see. To find silliness, drive & determination, love, and kindness. To believe in myself again and that sense of anything is possible.”

These resolutions are not specifically tasks to do, things to check off a list. I dove deep inside of me and asked myself what it was that I wanted to feel more of in the year ahead and this was one of the answers I received. These types of resolutions, to me, are creating a path…a direction to work towards and those “specific tasks” you can check off your to-do list are the things you experiment with throughout the year to find your way to those feelings you want to fill you up inside.

Here is another example of a resolution I wrote that year.

“Learn to seek and find inspiration. To fire up my creativity within. Find anything and everything that is beautiful. Start seeking things out.”

When I wrote this resolution I realized I didn’t spend much time being open to my surroundings and soaking in the details and absorbing the inspiration around me. Inspiration is everywhere, but you have to seek it and capture it. It’s about exploring and looking at things differently.

The feeling I wanted was this: I wanted to be able to feel more of that openness and inspiration in my life. & that feeling lead to one of my resolutions.

I hope these examples give you an idea of what I mean by using your feelings to guide you in deciding what you want to manifest in the year ahead.

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How many resolutions should I make?

This answer will vary depending on the person. I do, however, don’t recommend making more than 10 resolutions. You don’t need to overwhelm yourself by making an unreasonable amount of things for you to “work on.” I will say this, though, after you have written down one or two resolutions or when you are at the point wondering how many you should write. Pause and take a deep breath. Ask yourself what else you want to feel and if you feel there is nothing left or you feel good about your list already then this is a good indicator that you have the right amount for you.

(The first year I did this I had five written down before I finally felt my list was ready and this year, however, I have written 8. It will change all the time and that is okay too.)

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Fourth. Visualize.

After you have written down your resolutions, I want you to take some time to read them over again. After you read each one, think about how you would feel in those moments. Visualize it as if it were happening right now. What are you doing? What emotions do you feel? Maybe even ask yourself why does it make you so happy, why do you want this?

Taking the time to visualize and process your resolutions will give you an idea of what you want and how you can work towards it. Visualizing can also pave the way for you to know how it feels when it has manifested into your life later on.

Finally, plan, pray and let go.

The final step in wrapping up your new resolutions can be different for each person. If you are the planner type, you may want to write down a couple ideas of things you could do throughout the year to work on these resolutions or to schedule check-ins throughout the year to see how you are feeling or doing on these resolutions you’ve set. Others of you may want to spend a few minutes praying on these resolutions and entrusting them to God for his guidance and assistance.

Or, finally, you may be ready to send these resolutions out into the world, trust that they will happen when you are ready for them, and let them go. Send your resolutions out into the world, let your worries be free, and know they will come true.

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These resolutions are not the type to “accomplish” and leave you at the end of the year disappointed if you didn’t do them or didn’t do them good enough/they didn’t reach your standards of perfection. These resolutions are not about getting things done in the year ahead, but about working towards feeling your best.

Every step taken towards your happiness is a step in the right direction for you.

After you have created your resolutions for the year ahead, know that they are made for your happiness, your well-being. That is why they are the right resolutions FOR YOU.

& you can leave it at that. No to-do list or goal you are stressing over for the New Year matters as much as these do. So once this list is done, all those other ones are just bonuses.

I hope this post was helpful and allowed you to find a way to start the New Year with the right mindset and resolutions that feel good in your heart.

Now, we want to hear from you! Comment below what are some of the resolutions you uncovered as you worked through these steps.

Written By: Marnie Jayne, Founder.