New You Revelations
Dec 29, 2024
It’s time for another New Year; 2025 is knocking at the door. It’s a chance to leave the past behind and embrace a new chapter. This is probably why most New Year’s resolutions are met with failure, by the way. We bring our past into our desired new chapters, and our resolutions evaporate in about two weeks.
We do this on different fronts. Physically, we literally bring our pasts into our resolutions through habitual wiring. Whatever it is, we do well. Whatever habit we desire to break, we have constructed and etched the neural pathways for that action, thought, or habit inside our nervous system. We’ve created the neural framework to ensure we can easily perform and carry out that action, thought, or habit. We literally hardwire our habits and our past into our brains. This is why resolutions are so hard to keep; we are fighting our neurology, the neurology that we have built.
We also bring our pasts into our resolutions through our memories and thinking processes. Some of these thought processes are physically represented in our nervous system, but some come from our nature. I mean that some of us are “half-empty” people, and some are “half-full” people. It’s hard to be resolute in embarking on a new chapter of life if we let our memories and “old” nature influence or infiltrate our resolutions. Pair this with “all or nothing” thinking, and you find that most people set themselves up for failure and frustration with every hopeful, resolute decision at the beginning of the year.
The root of resolution is resolute. Resolute means to be unwavering. Yet, for many of us, resolutions are the opposite; we wave the white flag of defeat and surrender halfway through January. This, again, is because of our “all or nothing” “pass/fail” thinking. We are slow to adapt and change but quick to judge and condemn. It’s wild when you think about it. We are designed to change, but we resist change with nearly every fiber of our being.
Our nervous system is designed to be wired and built through what we do and how we think. Our nervous system adapts and changes if we do new things and think new thoughts. If we create a stimulus, our brain adapts. This is a process, one that takes time. Time, along with grace, is something we typically do not like to afford ourselves when it comes to resolutions. Process is not something we afford ourselves. We fixate on the goal and label it a failure before we give process a chance to create change.
Again, this is wild because if you think about it, we allow process to create whatever we want to change. Nothing about our habits was created instantly. We built our habits through the process of engagement. We just don’t see it that way. And when we want to change or to be resolute in a new path forward, we want it now, if not yesterday.
My only point to this, if I have one, is that we are built and designed for change. There is no resolution or goal we cannot achieve if we allow ourselves to embrace the resolution process. Suppose we let go of our pasts, the stories we’ve told ourselves, the false accusations we’ve made about ourselves if we allow patience and afford ourselves grace. In that case, we can adapt and overcome anything.
We can choose a resolution, a goal, or a life we want, and we can have it if we just keep showing up. It’s okay if we stumble, if some days are harder than others, or miss the mark 1,000 times. As long as we keep showing up and practicing the process of our goal, we will make progress that will eventually lead to success.
If you want to change or think you need to make a resolution, your spirit is willing. If your spirit is willing, your flesh is not too weak to change. Allow your flesh the time through process to create the change you desire. And know this: You Can. You were designed to adapt and overcome. You were designed to change. It’s your nature. This is often why your spirit is willing. It is being pulled to a more incredible version of you, a version of you that is reached through changing from where you are now. You can. No matter where you’ve been, your habits, or what thoughts you keep. You can change and grow to an even better version of yourself. Yesterday is just a stepping stone for today. Today is an opportunity for tomorrow. Embrace it,
Oh, if it matters, we don’t need to reach for change at a certain time of year. We can change whenever we want. It’s also not about New Year’s resolutions; it’s about new-you revelations.
Anyway, I hope this 2025 is the best you you’ve ever been, and I wish you a Happy New You.
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