Owning A New Year and New Lifestyle!

It’s a new year – 2019 - and for those of us who are blessed, favored, and fortunate enough to have made it, it may feel like another extraordinary opportunity for a fresh start in life and work toward our goals! 

You may have heard friends, family members, and associates proclaim sayings like:

“New year…new me.”

“My New Year’s resolutions are…” 

“This year, I’m going to….” 

“THIS is going to be my year….” 

Now, some folks are probably reacting with the side-eye like… 

Okay, we’ve heard this same bullsh*t every year for the past five or 10 years only to hear it again. Whatever!!! 

There is such a thing as giving the benefit of the doubt to folks who aspire to want to have more, even if it takes (another) new year. And, I can see how it can be easy to conclude that no progress can or will be made if folks are just giving lip service and not doing anything to bring their aspirations to fruition.

However, upon the arrival of a new year, some people may feel like they have a fresh start to make great things happen in their lives. The truth is, at any given time and moment, someone can decide to get started on making changes to improve their lives. 

I will not rain on anyone’s parade and take anything away from them if they decide that it takes a new year for them to get started or they needed some time to get in gear, figure out their plans, make the commitment to their goal(s), stay disciplined, and work toward solutions and results. After all, it’s their life and they are the ones who must ultimately live with the outcome of their decisions and actions or indecision and inaction. 

Question: What does a new year mean or doesn’t mean for you (and yours)? 

Let’s face it. Technically, a new year is the first few days or weeks of a year or when a calendar year begins. Yet, it can mean more to those who put their personal meaning and purpose behind it. 

If a new year means something to you, then specifically, how do you plan to give your life greater purpose and meaning and avoid becoming or staying a helpless “victim” or "hostage" of any negative life circumstances? If you have no plans for the new year, then have you considered that you can end up being a willing or unwilling participant of "letting the chips fall where they may"? Can you live with "letting the chips fall where they may" without allowing the outcome to primarily become other people’s issues? If so, then it’s your life. 

Regardless and if you haven’t already done so, I encourage you to start assertively becoming a master of acquiring knowledge and learning the “What", "When", "Where", "Why", "Who", and "How” aspects relating to your life plans and goals and deciding if you wish to gain and use your skills and talents that complement the world we live in or chart a new or evolving path of your own that undeniably shifts or shakes up the universe. 

Continuous Planning, Reflection, Perseverance & Gratitude

I started planning, implementing, assessing, and re-assessing my goals years ago. Although some of my goals have changed and evolved over time, a common theme remains in relation to the passage of time and each new year.

Living to see another new year for me means continuing to be thankful and grateful to my Higher Power. It means continuing to deeply reflect on previous years of my life and the life lessons I’ve learned, discovering where I stand in relation to the most self-actualized woman I aspire to be (and not necessarily the mold that others have cast for me), my values, self-awareness, an honest assessment or re-assessment of my self-growth and progress relating to my goals, and forging ahead despite the temporary and foreseeable peaks and valleys in life.

For me, life will always involve the continuation of the process and journey toward self-mastery and self-growth, and my passion to help others and see others (constructively) take the bull by the horns to transform their lives. I continue to aspire first to be as wise as I can be aside from being happy and healthy with love as the guiding force in my core. Others may aspire primarily for wealth. It’s not my job to judge, but I wonder what good is wealth without holistic and healthy wisdom and the things money cannot buy. 

I did away with making New Year’s resolutions a long time ago. I continue to keep a list of the goals that are most important to me and review and modify them as needed. I am aware that unforeseeable circumstances can happen, so I stay as mentally prepared as I can so that I do not allow negative circumstances to cause me to want to give up. 

One year is a good amount of time to put plans and goals into action, measure one’s progress, make any needed adjustments, and "test the waters" of the adjustments. I keep a month-to-month “To-Do" list of the most important daily tasks that I need to work on or complete. It works for me and I encourage you to do what works for you. Some different methods may work better for you or you may not even need a “To-Do" list at all to be effective at achieving your goals. 

I also make regular assessments of the progress of my goals, which helps me to avoid putting undue pressure on myself. Some of the results that I obtain over time are better than others. That is what growth is all about for me, which is reflecting on my "humble beginnings" to taking pleasure in the solutions and effective results that I obtained. 

An Awakening & Self-Awareness

There are some people who, at whatever age, have surprisingly experienced an awakening of self, quest for knowledge, and/or something unexpected may have happened in their life that caused them to discover that they are ready to create a new life for themselves whether it’s around the time of a new year or at a given moment. They feel and claim it in their heart, soul, and mind that they want a new life and feel that they are ready, willing, and able to get it. 

Perhaps, they were inspired by the journey and/or progress of others who set positive examples that showed them that they too can achieve effective solutions and results. Maybe, they did some honest soul-searching and took a deep look within themselves, and resolved to face and overcome their fears, demons, negative habits, etc. that held them back. Perhaps, they were simply courageous enough to decide that they wanted to shed the old “them”, learn their options, and take the first step toward the new “them”. Thus, their motivating self-talk is “New year…new me”. Sometimes, their follow-up and follow-through actions do not coincide with the "New year...new me" words and thoughts or they fail at the first few attempts of self-growth. Then, they may simply give up and give in to the old “them”. 

In my opinion, the old “them” can be a constant threat to the new “them”. After all, it can take more time, energy, and effort to put in the work on the new “them” and being the old “them” felt comfortably familiar.  Regardless, they can give it another try and learn new methods to get them on track.

My mindset is to not get too comfortable with anything or anybody. Things change and people can change and/or leave us, but life and the passage of time go on. I have learned to just “enjoy the moments” while they last. Whew! Enjoying the moments can be a difficult task to master especially if you experience day-to-day stress, living paycheck to paycheck, getting laid off, fired, or having no paycheck. I encourage you to PRACTICE “living in the moment” when you are experiencing happiness or moments of satisfaction. 

Years ago, despite multiple adversities, I created a LIFESTYLE for myself that involves the CONTINUATION of what I have already been working on prior to the start of a new year. Things do not always work out perfectly or as planned when it comes to achieving my goals, but my current LIFESTYLE allows me to adjust and work on improvements in my life. 

I am not solely referring to a lavish lifestyle of traveling the world, yacht parties, eating caviar, etc. when I refer to the lifestyle that I created for myself. It is more about a mental and acquisition of knowledge lifestyle that I work on for myself. I have programmed myself to normally seek solutions and results for problems. I tend to see things differently from others even if I get their point. 

However, I am open to learning new things. I see the bigger picture now. Unfortunate things are going to happen and it is my responsibility to address them and seek solutions and results. If I am blessed enough to get genuine help from others that leads me to positive, effective, and lasting results, then that is good. If not, I keep moving forward without throwing a self-pity party.

Conclusion

I encourage you to see the bigger picture beyond just living to see another new year. I encourage you to see the bigger picture aside from making plans and setting goals. I encourage you to maintain or adopt a (new) lifestyle not just for the new year. Usurp any old and negative habits, people, places, and things that no longer serve a greater and more productive purpose in your life. YOU must not only decide that you want it, but that you’re worth it so you can not only get started and own it but share and spread the love! Cell Block Legendz wishes you a Happy New Year and Happy (New) Lifestyle!

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