Hello, 2019! Setting Intentions and Goals For the New Year

I don't know about you, but I honestly hadn't given much thought to the actual meaning of "resolutions" before it got dumped and replaced with "intentions". I always just thought of it as another word for goal, or something you wanted to focus on achieving for the year. So I did a little internet research on the definitions to gain more understanding of the difference in terms.

According to Merriam-Webster, resolution means "something that is resolved", and intention is defined as "a determination to act in a certain way". From my understanding, the biggest difference between the two is that resolution implies there should be a sense of finality or closure ("you either did or didn't meet this goal"), while intention focuses less on the pressure of completion and more on making consistent efforts to support one's goal or value. Thinking in terms of health and wellness, I do believe that "intentions" may be a better fit when looking ahead at the new year.

If you look at health and wellness as something you value, it's not necessarily an end goal that you can achieve or fail like a resolution, right? That's one of the problems it seems with just setting resolutions; if we achieve them, we may feel good about ourselves which is great, but then it's like, what do we do next? And if we don't achieve our resolutions or goals, we may feel guilt, shame or disappointment in ourselves, and what if that leads us to ignoring other positive things that happened because we tried? I don't want to sound like I'm bashing resolutions or goals, because I think setting specific goals can be helpful to have something to plan for, but at the same time I feel it's important not to overlook the efforts made that support a person's overall values or intentions. If you read my blog post "Live In The Gray", this is another instance where I believe we can do both. We can set intentions AND goals; it doesn't necessarily have to be one or the other as long as we are supporting something that we value and don't let the "success or failure" of our goals dictate our self-worth or confidence.

When setting your intentions and/or goals for 2019, I encourage you to think about things in your life that you want to focus on or bring more attention to that support your values, and not necessarily that need to be resolved just in the coming year.

If you're curious, here are my intentions/goals for 2019:

1) Read more books. For organizational purposes and because I like to plan, I set a goal to read 1 book every month. This way I could make a list of the books I'd like to read and figure out if I can check them out at the library or if I need to purchase them. If at the end of the year I've only read ten books, that's okay; I will still have spent more time and focus on reading than I did before, which was my original intention.

2) Reduce my use of plastic. I don't necessarily have any specific goals for this, just being more mindful of bringing reusable bags to the grocery store, not using the plastic bags for my produce items, and slowly starting to invest in silicone, reusable sandwich/snack bags.

3) Get back into running. I've missed the feeling of running on a regular basis, because it helped increase my energy and I just felt strong. I love that it made me look at my body in a different way; more so with amazement and wonder at its capabilities. I'd like to sign up for two half marathons this year in different cities, so that I can also travel and see new places, which is something else I value.

Happy 2019, y'all!