It’s that time of the year, again. But with a twist. We have never had a year like this and so, the new year resolution has a different meaning and different preconditions.
Every time I do this, I start with a view of what happened through the ending year. Accomplishments, failures, emotions, health, contribution (to my family, friends and to the world), and so on. It is like making a review of all important parts of my life.
And then I do my best to imagine myself next year, doing the same thing again. The question I try to answer is: “How do I want my annual retrospective to look like at this time of the year, next year?”
But now is different. We all felt it, maybe in different ways, that this year we have been tested. Some of us with great difficulties, physically unwell or even personal loss.
Some with psychological difficulties because of loneliness, separation from loved ones, isolation. And I would say all of us because we had to face unprecedented levels of uncertainty, distancing and a significant change in human interaction.
So, considering all that, what kind of New Year Resolution should we consider for next year?
I honestly don’t know. I am merely trying to create a structure for myself and share it with you.
There is a story I have borrowed from a good friend of mine, that I keep using in training and coaching, a story about introspection. It is about a priest having to answer 3 questions every time he was crossing a border on his way towards his praying place. After a while the custom officer apologizes for the same question, Sunday after Sunday. But then the priest kindly asks him to continue using the same 3 questions every time they meet:
- “Who are you?”
- “Where are you going?”
- “How you will get there?”
I believe we have to look deeper into ourselves, to see what changed and how. To update our own image of self. And only then look into the future with a projection though that would be of the same depth, beyond material and professional objectives, I would dare to say even beyond family related objectives.
It is a about who do we want to become, what kind of human being.
What meaning of life drives us, what is our role for the next whatever number of years we will experience this great state of being alive. How will we enjoy living, for who, with who?
It’s time, I think, to get back to those great questions that maybe we didn’t give enough attention lately. And craft our own answers.
And only then, having the proper internal point of reference and the projection of the self we would plan next year. Set objectives for personal evolution for all aspects of our life.
Maybe, this way we would use 2020 as fuel for our own transformation and 2021 as a step into the process.
Written by
Raymond Marin
(checkout his LinkedIn Profile)
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