Happy New Year to all of you! By this point we have probably all been asked one question: what are your resolutions for the year? After 2020, this is probably the last question you want to answer. A new year seems to bring a lot of “new year, new me”, and everyone is talking about exercise plans and diets. Marketing from exercise brands and diet culture is very strong at New Year. Have you noticed this year a lot of people are rejecting this? This year it’s as if New Year’s resolutions have been become untrendy!
No doubt 2020 was life changing for many of us, and to be free of New Year’s resolutions is a good start. Especially for those of us in the northern hemisphere, where it is winter and many of us are in Covid-19 lockdown again. But as Charlotte Bronte said, “I am a free human being with an independent will”. So instead of resolutions for 2021, try doing things for yourself. No need to plan in advance, or make public declarations of your intent. Follow your heart and do what is best for you.
It is the little things that add up to big accomplishments. Doing little things for yourself that make you feel happier in that moment. A little thing I found helpful was to get a big empty jar. Every week, write a note for the jar that mentions something good that happened in the past 7 days. At the end of this year, between Christmas and New Year, you can read all the notes and see what an amazing year you had. A small weekly act of gratitude, which can remind you at the end of the year how good it was.
-Monique Brough
Curator
Girl Museum Inc.