Every year when the clock strikes 12 and the calendar shifts into a new year, you get that feeling that you’ve been given another chance to get your life together.
Well, that’s the dream at least…there’s that perpetual feeling that the chalkboard has been swiped clean and you get a fresh start from the troubles you want to leave behind.
So what do you do with that kind of power? Most consider: joining a gym, starting a meal plan/diet, making new friends, trying new experiences? Why not attempt it all? You’re excited, pumped even. You can’t wait to do it and be the best version of you.
Well that’s where things get rough. You start the year ambitious, you do it all, you join the gym and meal plan and make friends with the person taking the boot camp class beside you and try online dating and join a book club. By the end of January you feel like a brand new person. You can do it all, handle it all and life is flying high. Then you skip a morning workout to catch up on sleep and ignore the text from your friend reminding you of class. You stop by McDonalds on your way home because the idea of making quinoa, steamed broccoli and chicken for the 3rd time this week makes you cringe. You abandon the dating app because you’re tired of no replies or inappropriate unwanted pics. You feel even more defeated than you did at the end of 2017.
Then you abandon it all and go back to everything you were trying to change for the New Year because you’ve overwhelmed yourself.
How about for 2018 you take a new approach. Choose one thing to focus on. Ask yourself what will improve your day? What will help combat your mental health daily? What is likely to become routine for you? Feeling overwhelmed can often affect your ability to make proper decisions and act rationally. When you take on too much you set yourself up for failure. Give yourself a chance to succeed in 2018, make this the year that your happiness takes precedent.
So join that gym. Just don’t push yourself to hard and go every day or multiple times a day. Start slow and work your way up so it stays enjoyable.
Or, go on another date when you are ready because love isn’t actually dead and anyone who ghosts you and send you inappropriate pics were never meant for you anyways. Just be gentle on your heart. Don’t go on date after date and try too hard, it will find you.
Or, choose a day to work on meal planning instead of slaving over the stove for hours every night so you have the rest of the week to add new activities like a book club to your life.
The point is to take that New Year feeling and harness it into a new perspective on how you want to approach your life. Because at the end of the day it’s your life and you get the chance to enjoy it as long as you don’t burden yourself with too much.
This blog post was written by Alicia, Kwantlen's Health Plan Administrator. As a KPU Student, you are automatically enrolled in a Health & Dental Plan. If you are covered by a family or work plan (with equal or greater coverage) already, you can opt out. Opting out must be done by February 2nd, 2018 for the Spring 2018 Semester. More information on your health plan here.
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