Editorial: New Year’s Intentions
Are you so focused on meeting goals that you’re missing the big picture?
January is the month when people set New Year’s resolutions or give up on them entirely. Resolutions to get in shape, read more, get a job, be happier, quit bad habits, go vegan, or simply say ‘yes’ (or ‘no’) to things often start in excitement then end in disappointment. Usually, it’s not because you are incapable of accomplishing your goals, but rather the goals are too unrealistic, or our priorities are mixed up.
If the purpose of resolutions is personal growth, you need to prioritize conditions under which you can grow, rather than the accomplishments themselves. Time constraints and emotional or physical energy are important factors to consider. If you’re stressing about not meeting a daily goal as planned, then beat yourself up for falling short, it’s natural to break under pressure and give up entirely.
Instead of pushing yourself beyond your boundaries try focusing on holistic wellbeing. Who knows, maybe after treating yourself with the kindness you deserve you might find yourself growing more than you could’ve imagined.
For example, let’s say you’re a passionate student who wants to make an impact on your community, but you find yourself swamped with assignments and work. You used to skip meals and sleep, but you’ve suddenly realized that you produce better work when you are well-rested and fed. You decide to nurture your mental and physical wellbeing and your productivity increases. Next thing you know, you discover that you’ve written six articles for The Medium and become a Staff Writer, engaging with students across the campus on important issues (since getting involved with The Medium is everyone’s new year resolution, right?).
Resolutions should be about setting intentions with concrete action plans, rather than another source of stress. You can achieve so much more when you are a happy and healthy person.
At the start of this new year, we at The Medium find ourselves where we first began—in the confines of our home. We will not be printing weekly, and all our articles will be available online while the university is closed. As a team, we hope to show more kindness to ourselves, and as a result, to others as well. Our fantastic team of writers and editors deserve to know what a great job they do on a weekly basis, and we hope that as a community of young journalists, we will continue to grow together in 2022.
