It’s the second week of the New Year, and many of us are staring to…falter…in our resolutions. There’s no shame in this, it happens to so many people that the concept of a resolution has lost a lot of the respect that it used to have.
But let’s take it back eh? We’ll stick to our guns and to our new year’s resolutions; make our decisions believable to ourselves and inspiration for those around us!
What happens when you don’t keep a New Year’s Resolution?
On a practical level, nothing bad happens when you don’t keep your new year’s resolutions. There’s no punishment, no one chops off a finger, there’s no fees or fines to pay. But you’re still going to face consequences, but instead of external consequences, you’re dealing with internal consequences.
Whatever your resolution was, if you fail you’re certainly going to be missing out on all the good things that would’ve come from following through. Was your resolution to exercise more? Exercise is good for your physical health as well as emotional health. Set up a project to complete by the end of the year? The disappointment in not completing that project can cut you down for years to come.
Tips to help you keep your resolutions!
We all want to achieve our resolutions, and with the help of some common sense and moon inspiration we’ll achieve it.
People do fail a lot, and that's okay too. Read this article on why your New Year's Resolutions can fail!
Set Reasonable Goals
One of the biggest issues people have with keeping their resolutions is trying to overachieve. When we’re not mindful of our limits and try too hard to achieve a dozen different or impossibly high goals, we’re setting ourselves up to fail.
While there’s no harm in challenging our limits and striving for greatness, but there’s no point in trying to do twice what you can reasonably get accomplished. Being respectful of your limits and setting resolutions and goals that are mindful of that will lead to a much more successful year than going without goals, or going for the whole nine yards, and the nine after that.
Pick a goal you can measure
Set your goals, and set benchmarks to measure yourself by. Most people go on a month to month basis, but it’s actually easier and healthier overall if you set your goals to the moon phase calendar instead of a monthly calendar.
A moon phase calendar goes from full moon to full moon phase. It’s a lot more consistent than the 28-31 day calendar that the traditional calendar is. The moon phase calendar is 29 days long, and correlates perfectly with the 2018 calendar because the first day of the year is a full moon!
Use the Moon Phase Calendar as Your Guide
Every 28-29 days the moon goes through every single moon phase, and each one will affect your ability to accomplish projects differently. You may find that the beginning of the year was a hard time to start new projects, which isn’t unusual.
The full moon is a great time to end the year on, reflecting on all the accomplishments of the year before and celebrating your successes. It’s a phase of wholeness and completion. So how do you deal with starting a new year on one?
The best way to deal with that is to adjust for it. Spend the beginning of the year clearing out old projects, packing and compartmentalizing all the different bits and pieces that are standing between you and your goals.
A Brief Sidebar about the Moon Phase Calendar:
There are four main phases of the moon, and each is a different time for managing projects and emotional growth. There’s Full, Waning, New, and Waxing.
If the year had begun on a new moon it would be the perfect time to start new projects right out of the gate. But instead, it started on the full moon phase.
We’re moving now into the waning moon phases, so take the time to put things away! It’s not too late to get started, just clear out your emotional clutter before the new moon phase comes out.
The new moon phase is the best time to take on new projects. So spend the next week putting all your stuff in order, clear off your desk (both physical and emotional), and gather the materials to start your next project.
Get a better and more in depth understanding of the moon phase calendar here.
Reward Yourself!
People are not much better than puppies. We like to be pat on the head and praised for doing a trick. And as dark as that may seem about human nature, it’s a great way to keep yourself motivated. Set your goals along with the moon phase calendar, and every full moon you’re keeping up with your goals and benchmarks give yourself some kind of reward.
Like, a nice dinner, or a new purchase. A nice “treat yourself” will eventually train you to be just as excited about the accomplishment as you are about the reward itself.
It’s a new year, so be kind to yourself and strive to be a better version of yourself than you were last year. Celebrate your victories and mind the new challenges that come in your way.
