Start as you wish to continue

Blog Image: Start as you wish to continue

As individuals 2021 may have started with several resolutions about how we were going to live but ultimately government restrictions, international policy and medical mandates will have impacted our planning and desire. With 2022 well under way we look at the plans many of us make that deeply impact what we do and who we are.

Perhaps the most common of all News year resolutions is the passionate commitment to getting fit, engaging in exercise, and sculpting a physical appearance aligned to that of a catwalk model. We join a gym, we buy the gym clothes, we diet, sign up to wellbeing apps and we adopt a steely resolve to maintain this new lifestyle. Usually by March, we are paying a monthly gym fee and not attending, the gym clothes remain in a drawer still folded and unused, the wellbeing app has been deleted and most dinners include two helpings of desert and a bottle of wine.

New year new job, we hear a lot. What about doing things differently in our current roles. Whether we are paid employees or self-employed, doing something innovative and contrary to what we have done in previous years will need to be a challenge we set ourselves. Whether it’s a new sales strategy, a premises move or perhaps a shift in marketing focus from email to SMS doing something new and different could yield significant reward. In some cases, a move between departments or a change in the clients or accounts can often lead to increased motivation and energy.

Stale relationships are often evaluated in the period between Christmas and New Year, we ask ourselves is my current partner someone I see myself spending the rest of my life with, how do I freshen up my relationship or if need be, terminate the relationship. When looking ahead with a full 12 months of the year still to come, and the benefit of a Covid induced 20/20 who we spend our time with becomes ever more important. The early part of any year seems to empower us with the ability to tackle head on a number of difficult life choices and selecting a partner or staying with a partner is just one of them. In much the same way the gym membership growth is exponential in the period after New Year so is the sign up on the multitude of dating apps available at the touch of a finger. A change is as good as a holiday they say, and it seems that extends to the company we keep.

Perhaps the most common reflection people make once they are through the holiday period and into the exciting planning of a new year is the following quote “ a puppy is for life not just for Christmas”. Often given as gifts over the holiday period pets bring with them a series of responsibilities that most are unfamiliar with and struggle to come to grips with over the course of the year. If the way we want to live our lives going forward requires the addition of a furry friend that is wonderful, but we need to recognize that the acquisition of a pet brings with it a required change in our own behavior, and that this behavior change needs to be consistent and sustained for the entire life of the pet!

There is nothing wrong with embracing change, in fact it is to be encouraged. We do need to be cognoscente however, of how this change may impact others. It’s not just the initial change or switch in behavior that may burden or embolden us, but also the lack of us being able to see the change through. If we are going to adopt new mantras every January, perhaps one those mantras should be “I will start as I mean to continue”. A passion for seeing things through, for finishing what we start. A desire to prove to ourselves that we have the ability patience and enthusiasm to be different and stay different………every year!