Setting New Year’s Resolutions for 2024

Photo by Prophsee Journals on Unsplash

I’ve always been cautious about making New Year’s Resolutions. Laying out some things we want to accomplish, improve, or enjoy can be a positive experience. However, we may feel disappointed in ourselves if we don’t accomplish every one of them. That can contribute to anxiety or even depression. At the least, it leads to negative thoughts, and I try to avoid those.

Why even set goals, one might ask. I’m retired from teaching, and although each September still feels like a new beginning, I don’t have to prepare lesson plans or write references for my students. There are very few things that I absolutely HAVE to do. (Kismet, sitting beside me, points out that I need to feed her and take her on lots of walks. Ok, but I don’t need a New Year’s resolution to make sure I do that. Her wet nose in my face every morning provides the reminder.)

This week I received several internet tools for developing goals and plans for the new year. One, called Year Compass, invites me to pick a word “to symbolize and define the year ahead.”  and to develop a “secret wish for the next year.”

My 2024 day planner has lots of charts and diagrams to help me narrow down my goals to achievable bits and review them several times during the coming year.

A well-known writer shared her two waiting goals for the year and specific strategies to make them happen.

I do feel after reading all of these that I “should” set some goals. But maybe not today.

Transition to a New Year

I love the week between Christmas and New Year’s.  The fridge is full of holiday leftovers, my family is off skiing, and no one seems to expect me to do anything. So slowly, at my own pace, I undressed the tree, put away the decorations, and finished reading and writing Christmas cards. Yes, I still send cards, and this is why.

I tried out the fireplace in my new home and spent several evenings reading with the background of crackling flames.

I raked the leaves from my front patio, then sat and enjoyed the way the outdoors smelled.

Life is slowly unfolding once again. My phone has rung a few times, and my email box is full. I’m not ready for full emergence into the world yet, but soon.

This sense of peace and contentment – that’s what I want more of in my life.

Photo by Prophsee Journals on Unsplash

Perhaps that’s my New Year’s resolution.

How are you spending this time of year?

Marlene Anne Bumgarner writes primarily about food, family, and traditions. Her 2020 memoir, Back to the Land in Silicon Valley, is about raising children, animals, and vegetables on a rural plot of land in the 1970s.  

Organic Cooking for (not-so-organic) Families will be out soon. She’s currently writing a cozy mystery.