Why you won’t catch us making any New Year’s Resolutions this year…
Ladies, this new year, we’ve made one simple resolution: not to make any New Year Resolutions. In fact, we might even start our own little Roccabox campaign: forget Dry January and Veganuary… we’re going to kick off the anti-resolution revolution.
Yep, that’s right: at Roccabox HQ we’re waging our own little war on the traditional new year’s resolution and replacing it with our own movement that promotes experiences over perfectionism.
This year we plan to go a little easier on ourselves – so that means no more self-imposed restrictions, no more self-inflicted chastisements and definitely no more diets. If you’re anything like us then every December you’ll go through a month of gluttony and hedonism, doing all the things you shouldn’t be doing, eating all the things you really should say no to and drinking, well, we don’t know exactly how much, but in all honesty we would probably bleed Prosecco right now. That’s partly because it’s Christmas (the excuse for everything) but it’s also because we wrap ourselves up cosily in the belief that it’s all ok because next month we’ve resolved to never ever eat that/do that/ say that/ drink that again. Do you bounce merrily every single January, into the New Year, vowing that this will be the year you give up wine, enter a triathalon and lose two stone? We definitely do. Then every single February (ok, every single mid-January) we end up berating ourselves for breaking our newly imposed booze ban/ yoga habit/ plant-based diet. The result? We end up feeling even crappier than we did before we set ourselves these ridiculously unachievable goals, that, let’s be honest, were partly dreamt up because that’s what everyone else on Facebook seemed to be doing at the time. And while they might support worthy causes and they might be in it for the right reasons, media-backed campaigns such as Dry January, that are designed to encourage a month of abstinence, simply enhance our desire to change ourselves in unrealistic ways. They put us under pressure and are at risk of putting us into a really unhealthy place, where we associate the New Year with a quest for self-improvement. Resolving every single January 1st to improve ourselves/ our bodies/ our drinking habits, when let’s be real, we’re usually too hungover to get dressed, let alone adopt an entirely new regime, is, well, very last year.
But if you do decide to make a new year’s resolution, remember….
Life is a journey, not a destination. Ok, it sounds like a seriously cheesy mantra from a fridge magnet, but it’s true: life shouldn’t be about perfection and completion, it should be about experiences and yes, that includes mistakes. No, we aren’t perfect, and yes, the fun in life should be had in each moment, not in planning for the future and making unrealistic changes.
If you do want to make a couple of New Year’s resolutions – or just a few lifestyle tweaks to help you live your best life – then that’s fine, go ahead! But just remember that you’re aiming for long-term success here. When it comes to making changes, slow, steady and small habit adjustments might not be quite as sexy as drastic attention-grabbing life changes that you can shout about on Instagram, but they’re proven to be far more effective at bringing about positive changes and they’re undoubtedly easier to stick to. More importantly than all of that they acknowledge that we are humans: we are works-in-progress, that have come along for the ride – we aren’t designed to be perfect specimens, complete and flawless at any given moment.
Remember that scene in Edward Scissorhands when Edward’s creator dies, before he gets the chance to give him a proper pair of hands? It’s seen as a devastating life-altering turn of events at the time – but just look at the journey Edward then goes on, thanks to those special scissors he has for hands. It would have been a far less eventful film if he’d just become a normal guy, with normal hands, right? So whether you fall into our camp of making zero resolutions (and no, that isn’t just an excuse to keep eating Quality Street for breakfast once December is over) or whether you decide you are going to make a few little healthy lifestyle adjustments in 2020, then just remember two things: firstly, make sure whatever you do you’re doing it for you – not for your boss, your boyfriend or the ‘gram. And secondly – yet even more importantly – remember that same you you’re doing it for, is bloody great already.