Dead Resolutions

Happy calendar flip day!

That fresh planner feels so good, that first page at the start of the year. It feels so good to set goals and make plans for all the things that are going too happen this year.

There’s always such vigor and hope at the beginning of the year. The list of things that I want to change is frequently miles long. Somehow the freshness of the first calendar page of the year makes it seem like anything is possible. And so I resolve, once again, to make lots of changes in my life.

And once again, it becomes quickly apparent that that energy does not last. It’s unsustainable.

You would think that after so many years the pattern would be pretty obvious. I guess it’s the 11 other months in between that make me forget all about it.

It’s time to let the resolutions die.

That doesn’t mean that change is dead. After all, it is the only constant in the universe. Let that sink in.

Everything is constantly always changing.

But it is almost imperceptible change. The sun rises and sets. Plants grow. Leaves fall. Seasons shift, blending from one to the next. Perpetually.

If nature can so readily, and so constantly, change, then why can’t we?

The quickest answer is the things we often want to change are often so grandiose that we’re doomed to fail from the start. Nature, as a whole, generally does not accomplish big things quickly. The most dramatic changes often come so slowly that they are largely unnoticed even in our lifetime.

The Grand Canyon

The Appalachian Mountains

The Redwoods of California

The Amazon River

Glacial Movement

We would be hard pressed to see differences in any of these locations in a single lifetime, but yet, the changes are there, and often if we pause and look we can see what is different.

Taking a page from Mother Nature’s book would do us well when we sit down to dedicate ourselves to change, regardless of what calendar page we are on.

Find a tiny change that feels doable, something that feels almost too easy, and start there.

5 minutes walking the dog

5 minutes of play with the cat

One extra daily enrichment activity for your pet

Walking with the horse if riding feels like too much

5 minutes of movement and play

You may quickly find that only 5 minutes turns into 10 which turns into 20, and suddenly cascades into the can’t miss activity of the day.

The universe is constantly humming and buzzing with the energy of change. It never ceases the movement and motion, even when seems to be completely still. Use the energy of the tiny changes to build momentum in your life and you’ll quickly discover that those tiny changes add up to big shifts for the better.