Make These Resolutions Anytime of the Year

[Maureen Bonatch MSN, BSN, MSN, RN]

The New Year’s Eve ball drop starting the year may already feel like a distant memory, and many of us have already dropped the ball on our New Year’s resolutions. This occurs so frequently that January 17th has been dubbed as, Ditch Your New Year’s Resolution Day.

There’s no reason to be hard on yourself if your resolution didn’t stick. Just because January 1st feels like a clean slate, you don’t have to wait another year to begin to make positive changes. We tend to wait for a new month, a new week, or a new year, to make a change, when we can resolve to make changes anytime of the year.

Focus on Making Small Changes

Change is hard. It can take 21 days to, break, or form a habit, and many claim that it takes even longer. The changes we wish to make are usually big ones. Things we think that will bring happiness once accomplished. Perhaps we should focus on creating new habits, instead of breaking old ones. If we start making little changes with ourselves, and the people closest to us, positive changes may follow if we resolve to:

Reconnect

You’re busy. Before you know it, you’ve lost touch with friends you vowed to get together with once a month. Or you discover you haven’t talked to some of your family since the last holiday. Don’t wait for the next high school reunion, holiday, or tragic event, to get together with friends and family. Sometimes just picking up the phone to talk to a friend or family member, can shine a joyful light on a routine day.

Social media makes it easier to reconnect. Although the ease of social media can work against nurturing relationships. People may feel like they can be less personal, and not bother to text or call when they can post on social media. Then when you are together, it can invade that time. Try to focus on being together instead of virtually living life on social media.

Apologize

Perhaps there’s someone in your life you’ve become estranged from, and by now the reason for the disagreement may seem ridiculous, or you’ve forgotten what lead to the hard feelings. It may feel like too much time has passed to apologize. Usually it hasn’t.

Consider whether that difference of opinion is worth not having that person in your life. Decide how much you value that relationship. If there were more positive memories than negative, perhaps it’s time to extend that olive branch of forgiveness. It may be worth agreeing to disagree, or tolerating a conflicting opinion, to have the relief of releasing those ill feelings. Approaching that person may be easier than you thought, and they may be grateful you took the first step. If they remain bitter, it may enable you to move on and not be burdened with regret of not trying to mend that rift.

Go Back to School

You may have hobbies or dreams you’ve put on hold, but even if years have passed, there’s no reason why you can’t pursue those now. Learning something new may help you improve your career, or your outlook, as you find a healthy way to relieve stress or explore untapped talents.

Your school days may be behind you, but if you’re feeling stagnant in your job, or your life, taking a class might reinvigorate a zest for life. These classes may be relevant to improving your career, or it may be taking dance lessons, or pursuing interests you’ve always wished you explored.

Change Jobs

If you spend your time counting the hours until you’re off work, or the days until your next vacation, or holiday, perhaps it’s time to consider changing jobs. January is the most popular month to change jobs, but if you’re bored, or frustrated, with your work environment, or looking for a new challenge, no particular month will help you make this decision.

There are plenty of nursing jobs available, but don’t grab the first one that comes along, or you might end up in a different job but stuck in the same unhappy situation. Take the time to examine the cause of your unhappiness. If you’re unsure if a job change is what you’re looking for, seek out a mentor, or shadow a nurse on another unit, to uncover what sparked joy for the nursing profession in the first place and determine what job might reignite that flame.

Don’t Wait for a New Year

January 1st might seem like the best time to make resolutions for positive changes, but it’s only one day, and one month, out of the entire year. Don’t give up on finding happiness in the everyday by waiting for another Monday, or another year, to roll around. You can resolve to make positive changes anytime of the year.