01/14/2025
January always feels like a blank canvas or a pristine field of snow. It’s clean, free of regrets, and full of possibilities. We enter the new year while often declaring this one will be different. We have hope. We commence making a list of all of the ways we’ll change, organize, and accomplish our goals. The plan kicks off, we are dedicated for a week, and then life happens and we spiral into disappointment at ourselves.
I’m guilty. I’m raising my hand to acknowledge that I am a person who sits down on January 1 to evaluate the previous year and list wishes and dreams for the next twelve months. It’s all neat and tidy on paper until the workload, family obligations, and personal responsibilities hit.
After a road littered with frustration and abandoned aspirations, I decided to approach the new year differently this year. I chose to progress one month at a time with each month holding a different focus. Instead of throwing everything in the pot all at once and turning up the heat to get results, I’ll take it one day at a time. Following a routine for 30 days makes it a habit, so what was one thing I could implement each month?
After all the holiday food, I elected to make healthy eating the theme of January. It needed to be simple and easily followed. I will reduce sweets, eat more fruit and vegetables, and double my intake of water.
February involves sleep. I plan to increase it by an extra 30 minutes to an hour as often as possible. Maybe that means setting my phone down earlier in the evening, putting work aside, or declining to read that next chapter in a good book.
March will arrive with an effort to get more exercise. I’m not joining a gym or going to run miles and miles, but I can concentrate on reaching 10,000 steps a day, riding my recumbent bike, and lifting small weights at home.
April includes prayer and Bible study. I will compile a list of people and list requests to pray for them. I also chose a book of the Bible to focus on this month. Again, I won’t spend hours each day in prayer and study, but at least a few extra minutes in the morning or at lunch or before I go to bed.
May’s theme is social. I’m pretty isolated at times, as I work from home in my cave. So, I decided to choose two people and have lunch or dinner with them this month. If I don’t have time for a full meal, then we’ll make a quick stop at a coffee shop.
June is my emotional wellness month. I plan to choose something I like to do for enjoyment and devote time to make it occur. It might be a quick trip out of town for the weekend, a movie marathon, or sitting on my patio reading a book all afternoon. There are so many possibilities.
This is a six-month example of my search for balance. I can simply repeat the same focus for the final six months of the year or continue to implement new ideas. One thing a month to me is doable. What I think I’ll discover is that these will become habits and that I’ll incorporate each of them monthly—or at least have some residue carry over, even if just a teeny tiny bit.
It’s my plan not to be overwhelmed with attempting to overhaul my life in one month or set unattainable goals or resolutions. I want a way to gradually make some changes for the good of myself and the people around me. If some go by the wayside, then at the end of the year maybe I’ll have witnessed a 1% improvement each month, and 12% progress is way better than how I started. And any progress is worth a New Year’s Eve happy dance.
What about you? Is this something that intrigues you enough to create your own plan for the new year? Shelley Pulliam
