Almost Canadian

I have mixed feelings about New Year’s resolutions. Why wait until a new year to make positive changes in your life? Changes are more effective when they are small and spaced out anyway—trying to start five habits at once is overwhelming, while one new habit may be challenging but is ultimately easier to stick to. I believe it is unhealthy to set a long list of expectations for yourself that you are then unable to meet or meet only briefly, because then you are teaching yourself you can’t trust yourself. Not a great way to start a new year.

And yet, a new year does provide a natural point to reflect on life and contemplate where you want to be and all that jazz. Many of us have time off of work and school, giving us more mental energy and time to set intentions and plan. (Or you just quit your job because you’re 9 months pregnant and want to be at home with your soon-to-come baby. Oh, just me?) Personally, I’m a sucker for making lists and planning. It feels good for my brain, even if I struggle to actually follow the plan.

So even though I disapprove of the hype around New Year’s resolutions, I still make them and call them something else and then keep them to myself. Last year it was a “2024 bucket list.” Did I do the things on the list? Two of them. The rest I either forgot about or kinda had in the back of my head without actual plans of doing them. Vague plans, yes, but actual plans, no. There are lots of things that in theory I would like to do but lack the motivation to actually do.

There were also a few unwritten goals that I realized I did (mostly) meet, which was a welcome surprise. These were faith and lifestyle goals that meant a lot to me, which made it easier to remember and act on.

With the start of 2025, I have one main goal: give birth to this baby I’ve been carrying for the last nine months. I’d really like to meet her. I feel pretty confident I’ll meet this goal since I’ve already done the work of growing the baby.

Beyond that, I’m not sure. There are tons of projects I want to work on and daily habits I’d like to create, but I know if I try to do them all they will simply not happen. I want a daily writing practice, a daily exercise practice, and a daily connection with nature. (I saw an idea to sit in the same nature place every single day and simply observe and connect, which sounds absolutely lovely.) I’d also like to build my blog and maybe start some sort of side hustle to supplement my family’s income because I will be staying home with the baby. I want to build family relationships and my personal faith and emotional health.

That’s a lot of things, and I could list more, and there are lots of concrete goals I could make corresponding to each area, but right now that’s too much and I just need to focus on the main goal: baby. Maybe after that I can work on all the other life things. In bite-size, achievable chunks of course. At the very least, I’ll have a better idea of how life works with a newborn and can plan a little better for my mental and physical energy.

All this is to say, it’s a new year, but it’s not a new me, not completely. It’s a gradually changing me, as it has been my entire life, and that’s ok.

Are you making resolutions? Do you typically stick to them? Or do you forget about them like I do?