Surviving vs.Thriving (4 Resolutions To Make When Nothing is Certain)
A lot of us spent the past year simply surviving. Going into 2021, I am holding the goal to do more than to just survive.
In this new year, I intend to thrive.
That might sound like a lofty goal, especially as starting this year we really can’t see ahead any further than our head lights. There’s a chance we could still be living in the aftermath of this pandemic for the rest of the year.
However, after a year of so much change and upheaval, we have clawed and fought our way to establish a kind of new normal. And it is in this place of feeling at least some solid ground beneath my feet that I will carry out this resolution to thrive-- however that may look.
This is probably not the year for us to be making specific, time-sensitive resolutions.
The state of the world still in flux, and new announcements and predictions being made on the daily about when we might be going back to school, or work, or shopping malls, or our vaccination date.
We will only set ourselves up for disappointment by making goals to travel Southeast Asia, hit a new PR on a run or at eh gym, or get that promotion you’ve been chasing.
And so, rather than focusing on things I want to accomplish this year, I am focusing on how I want to feel, despite whatever may be happening in the world around me.
I want to feel gratitude. I want to remember how much love surrounds me, how much I have been blessed with in this life, even while stuck in lockdown.
I want to laugh more. I want to take life less seriously. And to do that, I need to place less imminent importance on what I am doing, and more on how it makes me feel. I want to be playful, and be silly. It’s okay if that is not always “productive.”
I want to feel lighter. Not in terms of physical weight, but mental freedom. I want to feel less rigid, more spontaneous, more open.
I want to shed the attachments, relationships, and self-inflicted rules in my life that bring me more anxiety than goodness.
I want to flow— and to not fight against the current.
Essentially, as cliche as it sounds, I want to be in the moment —in my actions as well as in my own mind.
Whatever curve balls or plot twists lay ahead in 2021, I want to be able to adjust and adapt to make the most of that situation.
Maybe that will be splurging on tickets to a music festival in Belgium, or taking off for a tropical vacation with a group of friends.
Or maybe it will be hunkering down and writing a novel or mastering a new repertoire of pole tricks if this lockdown is further extended.
Whatever happens, I want this year to NOT feel like a write-off.
I want to focus on the opportunities and the unique silver-linings that it may present, and to NOT be blinded by the obstacles or losses that may at first glance seem unsurmountable.
That all being said, here are some of my resolutions this year.
I worded them carefully to focus more on feeling and doing.
Hopefully. this will allow me to feel accomplished and “on track” simply by working to cultivate the feelings I have set out, and doing what I can when I can to move in the direction I intend to go.
In focusing on the journey or process rather than a final, specific result, these goals have some built-in fluidity. I am hoping this keeps me motivated —without causing me anxiety or stress even if “back to normal” continues to elude us in 2021.
This year is going to be about the journey— and letting go of attaching to a final destination
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2021 Resolutions
1) Continue to work towards a healthy relationship with exercise— move how I want when I want, and take a day off when that movement feels like a should and not a want.
2) Find a sense of flow— in pole and in yoga. Get more into moving intuitively, to music and sound and dance. Keep up strength moves and traditional poses and shapes, but also make time for just dancing, flowing and feeling in my body
3) Stay connected. Make time for the people that are important in your life. Whether thats a phone call, zoom meet, or in person gathering. Social distancing does not mean lack of connection or socializing.
4) Keep writing. On this blog, or other mediums. Make this a habit, just as ingrained in my daily life as eating breakfast and moving my body.
So there we have it: Four attainable resolutions for 2021.
It is possible to still make goals for yourself even amidst these times of change and uncertainty.
We just have to shift the focus from specific results to the feelings and actions that allow us to get there.
What are your resolutions this January?
Cheers to this New Year!
xxxoo
Jordan