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Change tack on New Year’s resolutions

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Dumisane Lubisi
Dumisane Lubisi

New Year’s resolutions are always a great start to change what did not work well in one’s life the year before.

The resolutions come in handy to guide us on how we will live our lives in the year ahead. Often we hear: “I’ve quit smoking”; “I’m going to live a healthy lifestyle”; “I am signing up for a gym membership”; “This year is my year to get my business off the ground”; and “I am going back to school”.

On social media, these declarations get the thumbs up from our friends and families, and inspire others to join in and do something positive with their lives.

Due to these resolutions, gym memberships skyrocket in January as more people fight to get that six pack; liquor shops are full of stock that’s not moving because many people made a resolution to have a ‘dry’ January; and entrepreneurship perks up as people try to get their big break.

Often, a month later (or maybe a couple), these resolutions are thrown out of the window and people are back to their wayward ways. The new gym gear is packed away in our cupboards and life – as we have lived it before – begins all over again.

Asking people about how their resolutions are going could lead to a fight and even an “unfriend” on social media platforms.

“Let me be and live my life the way I want,” becomes the standard response. And what can you really do with how and what one does with their life anyway?

So, as we begin the decade of the two 20s, we should rid ourselves of how we did things over the past decade and in the one before it.

We must be realistic when setting our goals and have a plan on how to achieve them. That six pack will not come just by signing the gym membership in January – it requires commitment, dedication, investment, consistency, perseverance and drive.

When things get tough in the beginning of your journey to fulfil that New Year’s resolution, you will fall down (probably many times), but you need to have the ability to stand up and try again. Success cannot be achieved in just one go. Success doesn’t come easily; you sweat for it.

So, the resolutions – to lose weight, quit smoking and drinking, eat healthily and so on – must be realistic and within the means one has available.

After all, we all need to live our best lives, but this doesn’t and cannot come easily. It requires work – hard and smart work.

Let’s leave the procrastination behind and live our resolutions of the New Year.

Happy 2020.

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