I’ll admit it. I’m a sucker for all things “New Year, New Me”! What a romantic thought that everything we don’t like about our old selves will just wash away on December 31st, and when we awake January 1st a shiny, new, less flawed version of ourselves will magically emerge. It’s like a reset button. A fresh start to work on things we want to change about us, and a new set of goals to work towards. We set resolutions and say that THIS is the year we will keep them, and a few weeks into the year we forget what they even were. I’m guilty of it too.

This year though I’ve had a different feeling towards it all. I didn’t have any desire to set resolutions. Instead of having things I want to change right now and keep throughout the year, I have goals that I want to slowly work towards throughout the year. Is there even a difference between a goal and a resolution? Maybe not, but either way, goals sound better to me. I know I’m not going to change everything overnight, and thinking that just sets us up for failure. Resolutions aren’t a bad thing, but by February 1st over 80% have already quit their resolutions. Maybe that’s because we’re going about it the wrong way.

I have a lot of goals that I want to reach this year in all areas of my life, and I know that those will take time to reach. Growth doesn’t always happen fast, and that’s okay. We grow through learning experiences and trial and error, and sometimes that is painful. But God can always bring good from the pain, and he can use those trials to grow us which in turn can get us closer to our goals. This year I made a sign with all of the different goals I want to reach this year. I’ll print it off and put it where I can see it everyday. I don’t know about you, but I know that if I don’t have it staring me in the face, it will slip my mind and I won’t remember it. If you set resolutions this year, and are already feeling frustrated and defeated a week into this new year, maybe try a different approach and write down goals you have for the year instead. I know every time I see my goals it makes me excited and gives me a little more drive to reach them!