The reason I don’t do New Year’s resolutions

Most often, the question that pops up around this time of year is, “what are your New Year’s resolutions?”. While many people’s answers center around dieting, weight loss, exercise, mental health, and overall well-being, I tend to shy away from forming them all together. 

You see, most people greet the New Year holiday with a sense of excitement and hope. Typically, there is anticipation for the year to come and all the new things it will bring with it.

New Year, new me. 

Fresh start. 

Hope for a better year. 

But for me, and maybe others with anxiety, it fills me with a sense of dread. 

My mind often travels to the thoughts of who we will lose this year. I tend to ponder on what hardships might come our way. What diagnoses or health tragedies will befall us. What the state of our friendships and relationships will be like this time next year. And it is an overwhelming weight. 

You see, the new year and all its unknowns bring with both hope and fear. It’s a reminder that while we grasp at control through planning, resolutions, and intentions (which are all important btw), we still are not in the driver’s seat. And for me, the start of the new year reminds me that I don’t have control. It hits me even more that I cannot fully protect my husband and kids from danger. And I don’t know about you, but that scares me! 

At its core, though, it is also a reminder that the most important thing I need to do in my life is to trust God. He is the one that orchestrates the events of my life, whether He allows those events or calls them to be. The one that provides comfort when the hard comes, that provides strength to get through the storms. He is the one who rejoices with us in our joyful moments. 

While I know this, it doesn’t fully dissipate the dread and fear of the unknown. So if you’re anything like me and feeling these emotions, hang tight. Take the new year one day at a time. Formulate goals for the month of January or for this week. No one says you have to plan the entire year and its outcomes right now.