A lot of people treat the new year very much like they would start a new book. Before you buy it, you will have presumably read the blurb, decided it was up your alley and put it in your cart. You might have also liked the book cover and decided it would look pretty on your bookshelf. Whatever the case, you will most probably look forward to sinking your teeth into it, full of hopeful anticipation that you will enjoy it. You thumb through the first couple of pages and get to the opening chapter, sitting back more comfortably, and start reading.

We see it happening with new years. We’re full of expectant anticipation. We think of it as a start to a whole new story, one we’re pretty sure we will like because that’s how new years are depicted for us; bright and full of promising events. The common, “new year, new me” story. Haven’t we all heard this before? Thing is, a new year is not really a closed book. On the same plain, it is more of a sequel to a story we know as closely as we know ourselves. It’s a build up. Which is why we don’t believe in “new year, new me”. We’re not going to detach ourselves from the reality which surrounds us and trust into new beginnings blindly. We’re wiser than that.

So what are our new year resolutions? They’re very simple: instead of setting unrealistic goals, we’re going to look back on the previous year, identify our weak points and make strengthening those our goals. Rather than pretending a new year will herald a new person out of nowhere, we accept who we are, with all our little flaws, and if it is in our power to work on them, we will. In a sense, we’re going to start this “sequel” in the full knowledge that there were parts in the previous books we didn’t like and we know we might meet them in this sequel too. But this is life, and unlike the book, we may have a certain degree of controlling it.

So let’s stop setting unreachable goals every year – we know they will only leave us feeling angry with ourselves and it’s only our confidence that will take a blow. By all means, let’s be positive and ambitious, but let’s also know ourselves well enough to realise that drastic lifestyle changes require time, effort and patience. Break your goals down, start on improving your weaker points first and the rest will follow more naturally.

Here at Svea, we are advocates of balance and of being true to our natural self. We think we’ll take a different outlook on resolutions this year. Will you?