I’ve never been a fan of New Years resolutions, mainly because nobody holds onto them and they’re really just a load of rubbish. But I do believe that we should both reflect on what we’ve learnt the year before and set some kind of goals to ensure we actually accomplish something this year.
And if you’re anything like me, when you hear the word ‘goals’ you automatically cringe, because it reminds you of high school diaries and insistent home group teachers. But I’m talking about working out where you’re headed and then taking every necessary step to get there. Because if you’re not working towards something you’re working against it.
Last year was great for me because I really started to work out what really matters to me and what I want to do in life after several years of not having a clue. But in saying that, it wasn’t a perfect year, no such thing exists. Life is never going to be perfect we’re always gonna have stuff rock up to test us. We just have to decide what we do when it does. We can either learn from it, or whinge.
And unfortunately too many take the second option and throw a pity party. I was disappointed to see a lot of facebook statuses over the New Years celebrations that said about how terribly awful last year was and how this one better be good. I understand that some people genuinely have had some rubbish stuff happen to them this year, such as loss of family or a job, or perhaps a serious injury. But that doesn’t mean the entire year was a waste of time! And maybe you didn’t really suffer at all and that’s just the mindset you’ve decided to adopt. If that’s so then maybe it’s time for a change.
As I said life is never perfect, but corny stuff aside it is really what you make it. The attitude you carry will change your life. This year I learnt that if I rock up somewhere as a leader with a bad attitude, other people will follow suit. And before you know it, you’ve majorly killed the vibe. And it’s the same for how people see you. If you whinge and moan and carry a negative attitude with you everywhere, you’ll ruin your chances of ever having something good happen and you’ll also ruin the mood of those around.
I’ve met too many people that think that others don’t want to hang around with them because of particular choices they’ve made in their life, but it’s not that at all. They’re just horrible to be around. They suck the mood out of the place, so that you don’t want to be within ten feet of them. And it’s sad.
I was stoked to be able to finally see the new Tintin movie before New Years as I’m huge fan, but one line really stood out to me and it was in a scene between Tintin and his sea captain sidekick Captain haddock. Haddock told Tintin that we send out our own signal and that’s what people see. And it’s so true. It’s ok to be sad or angry at times, but you can’t make that your default because you’ll never accomplish your goals and you’ll lose the friends you have.
There are too many opportunities in life to waste your time wallowing in self pity. The worlds already full of people who will pull you down whenever they can, so don’t do it yourself.
So if you don’t have a goal to set for this year or a ‘resolution’ if you really want to call it that, then commit to not being a debbie downer and to being someone who lifts up and encourages others.
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