Tag: say no to new years resolutions

What Will 2025 Bring? It’s Up To You!

We Have Entered a New Year.

I’ve thought about how I want this year to feel, what I want to accomplish, and how I want to be. I read and reread my daily commitments (affirmations). I pondered what changes I should make. Was there anything I needed to add? The last two years have been challenging, as I have aged. My ability to do has changed, my energy level is different, my physical strength is less, and other changes have occured. It has been stretching and I’ve had to work to keep a positive attitude about building my life while fulfilling my mission of caring for my family.

Here is the truth – you don’t stop building a life because you grow older or get busy; you stop building a life when you stop doing the things required to build a life. I didn’t want to go to that place. Hence, all the pondering and prayer. I could live another thirty years and I must decide what that will look like, as far as I can control. We can’t control all circumstances, but we can control our response to everything.

I found myself a bit stymied. I mean, my commitments for 2024  were very good and I still had lots of work to do to bring them to fruition. That is mainly because they have to do with my way of being, not manifesting things. Changing your way of being usually takes more than a year.

Another issue, I’m weary. It takes a lot of energy to do what I do every day, and it isn’t going to end soon, thank goodness. Maggie’s only 18 and will be here for decades. My Mom and husband, Don, despite illness and dementia, are hanging in and I want them to. I’m not anxious for the work of caring for them to end because I want them by my side.

That, however, caused me to wonder what I could add for myself, things I might want to learn or do. This last year I finally made a recording of me singing.  That dream had been on my vision wall for almost two decades. I finished the audiobook of my published work, Becoming A Present Parent – Connecting With Your Children in Five Minutes or Less. These were big goals. But what now? What do I have the energy for? P. S. You can find the audiobook on most audiobook sites. It hasn’t been on Audible yet. They take a long time!

My Articles Held Answers!

I had a few days to myself during the New Year holiday and seriously considered these questions. That led me to my blog. I searched for New Year’s Resolutions because I knew I had written about them and better ways to accomplish goals and dreams. What I read astonished me. What I had forgotten amazed me. What I had learned and shared was helpful to me. : )

I realize we are into the second week of the new year, but I’ll bet many of you have yet to think about how and who you will be in 2025. I’ll bet many of you have yet to think about what you want to accomplish and how to find time to do it. I thought the four articles I wrote and then re-read would help you because they helped me! They were written in 2017, 2022, and 2024. These articles have been pivotal in helping me begin thinking about how to put a few goals and dreams into my busy life. It wasn’t until I read the articles, that I could flush out what goals and dreams I still had hidden inside. As of this writing, I am still working on it. It’s January 3 but I’m confident I will have my 2025 commitments (affirmations) along with the attendant goals and dreams, in place by the time you read this. : )

I hope you find these older articles as enlightening as I did, and that the information helps you create a plan for the coming year.

We can only grow as high as we can see. We need a plan and then steps to move forward. We cannot live haphazardly and expect true growth and satisfaction. So read the articles. Take time to think. Pray for guidance. Then create your commitments (affirmations) for yourself. Set goals and don’t be afraid to add a dream.

We’re all working on growth and accomplishing our deeply held desires. No matter how wise, famous, or important they may be, no one has it all done. Life is ever moving forward. If I am still doing this at seventy-four, then you shouldn’t worry if you are doing the same.

1. Say NO to New Year’s Resolutions!! Tools to Make Next Year Better – Dec. 17, 2017
2. Your Goals are Inside You – Jan. 30, 2022
3. Do You Have An Indicator For Your Life? – Aug. 21, 2022
4. Are You Prepared for the New Year? I am NOT talking New Year’s Resolutions! – Jan. 14, 2024

I would love to hear about the progress you make.

Really, I would!

Say NO to New Years Resolutions!! Tools to Make Next Year Better

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Many of you have been with me for some time now. We’re friends in learning.  We’re seekers together. I want to thank you for the past few years of association by giving you some real tools to make next year better.

Start by saying NO to ineffective New Years’ Resolutions!!

The year is almost gone! I’ve been thinking about the last year and I’m satisfied. No, I didn’t get everything done I wanted to do. No, my life isn’t always peaceful and put together. But, I have learned a great many things. I have made some significant changes in my own way of being this year. I have done some work that matters. I’m content.

My One Action Step to Make Next Year Better!

Now I’m facing a new year and I have determined that I want to flow into the New Year gracefully and move through the year making needed changes, learning and again, ending this year with a sense of satisfaction. So for the past few months, I’ve been taking that desire to the Lord and asking him for some guidance. I have phrased it this way, “What is the one action step I could take this year that would make the most significant change for good in my life?

You will notice I asked for an “action” step and only one of them. I have learned from 60-plus years of New Years’ Resolutions that there is a tendency at the end of the year to take note of all the weaknesses, imperfections, and losses and then create a huge list of to-dos for the next year, to fix all that stuff. I’ve also learned that this is a recipe for failure.

I have come to believe in and act upon the 1% principle; that when you make the correct 1% change it exponentially expands that change for good in your life – it affects not only the 1% you were focusing on but all the rest of your life as well. I have also come to understand, through experience, that focusing on my strengths and successes and then seeking divine guidance helps me clearly see the correct 1%. No more New Years’ Resolutions for me based on what hasn’t gone well during the past year.

I went through this process of discovering the correct 1% in 2013 and here is what I came up with – Stop complaining! I didn’t realize I was complaining so much.

This year, as I pondered my work in the area of complaining I realized that I have made some progress but I’m still not where I would like to be. So I again went through the process of discovering the 1% for this coming year – Be more grateful. Hmmm, I thought I was grateful. Back to the drawing board. : )

Three Steps to  Change

There are some steps that are helpful to know in order to really make change stick and not feel discouraged in the process.

  1. Awareness of what to change. Now that I am aware of what my work is for next year, be more grateful, I can see when I mess up. Wahoo, progress. It looks like this. You mess up, recognize the mess up after the fact and then decide how to do it differently next time. When I find myself feeling ungrateful I will remind myself what steps I have decided to take to be more grateful and then I will commit to doing that next time.
  2. The second step looks like this. You mess up and in the middle of the mess up, you recognize it and stop and redo right then. So eventually, when I have an ungrateful thought or am beginning to complain, I will be able to stop and rephrase in a more grateful way.
  3. The third step is that you think about messing up and you don’t! The time will come when more often than not when I feel ungrateful and want to complain I won’t. I will change my thoughts and focus on what I am grateful for.

Each step takes time – weeks, months, and sometimes years. We have to give it what it takes.

Because I know the steps I can see that I am already making progress and it isn’t even the new year yet. I am on my way to success!!

The Tools in a Nutshell

Here is a summary of the tools for a better coming year in a nutshell:

• Stop focusing on what you didn’t get done in this year. Stop looking at all the problems that still need to be resolved. STOP!
• Look at all the successes you have had this year no matter how small. Make a list of at least 10.
• Ask your Higher Power for ONE action step for the coming year, a step that can make a big difference in your personal life.
• Hold that thought no matter how insignificant the change may feel to you.
• Make a commitment to work on that one thing all year long.
• Understand that the first step in change is awareness. When you mess up and then recognize the mess up, rejoice. You are in the first step. Don’t stress about how long you stay on step one. Don’t quit!
• Know that when you can stop in the middle of a mess up and redo right then, you are in the second step.
• Change has happened when you can stop the impulse to do the thing you want to change and instead do something better!
• Repeat the process at the end of the year in preparation for the coming year.

May each of you have a remarkable coming year filled with movement toward personal happiness.

Your friend and mentor,
Mary Ann

I WILL BE SPEAKING at the Winter Homeschool Conference on January 27, 2018, in Layton, Utah. This conference is designed to support and rejuvenate home educating parents who want to thrive, not just survive the homeschooling experience. You don’t have to be currently homeschooling to attend! I will be speaking on Process vs Outcome. Knowing the Difference Can Change Your Family. If the topic resonates with you I would love to have you join me. ​​​​​​​

P.S. You can learn more about seven ways to get better self-care in my new book Becoming a Present Parent, Connecting With Your Children in Five Minutes or Less. Knowing the difference will help you let it be enough. You can also receive a chapter from the book on Touchpoints, creating points of connection rather than having points of contention, FREE by visiting becomingapresentparent.com It can be life-changing for your family. I promise!