To be honest I’ve never been a big fan of the New Year’s resolution style of thinking. Mainly because it asks us to use shame and guilt as a lens to address some aspects of our lives we want to improve on. This lens is often a form of internalized messaging that comes from a fundamentally judgmental place.  This can be created from societal pressures like social media, tv programming, and magazine articles that ask us to be some sort of perfected version of ourselves. The whole she-bang around “New Year! New YOU!” can be deeply seated in the landscape of shame and guilt, and it can be really hard to figure out which goals are yours and which goals you are being told to have.

As you can tell, I have quite the gripe when it comes to the above discourse on New Year’s resolutions. But that doesn’t mean I do not like the idea that comes with setting new goals, pursuits, and improvements for the new year. I just don’t agree that they need to be steeped in the disciplinary realm of shame and guilt. We shouldn’t have to feel bad about ourselves in order to do the things we might want to do. Even worse, we shouldn’t be shamed into wanting to set goals, make improvements, or any pursuits that someone else has decided we should go for.

I choose to take on the New Year’s goal setting soiree as more of a chance to set goals that matter to me because I am interested, passionate, curious, and want to actually pursue them. It gives me a great starting point that I can measure (since it starts on the 1st day of the year), which I can use to notice the journey as I take it. Whether it is weight lifting to see my strength grow over the course of the year, or writing to improve my craft, or pursing a more health eating lifestyle (to start taking care of some digestive issues I’ve struggled with most of my life), or reaching out to some guest for the podcast that I was very nervous to reach out to. All of these goals come from a place of growth, curiosity, and interest, not shame and guilt. They all stem from something I want to do which will help me grow in ways I am choosing to improve in. They are all pursuits I have reason to value because of their impact on my life.

This is the stance I will be taking as I walk into the New Year. Not from a place of shame and guilt, but from a place of interest, passion, and curiosity.

Chuck LeBlanc

 

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