Every year millions of people all around the world think deeply about the goals that they want to accomplish and the dreams that they want to reach. They craft meaningful steps each year to make it there. As the clock strikes midnight and the last of the environmentally devastating fireworks blow black smoke and debris out onto dry suburban lawns, everyone announces their New Years’ resolutions. I have done this every year as well, that is, until this year— 2020.
I woke up on January 2nd with enough time to work out, shower, and get dresser before my best friend called me. I’m usually always behind and having to run around the house frantically while leaving the call on “speaker” until I can get to my car. However, on this first day back to the office after the New Year, I was right on time.
“So, what are your New Years’ resolutions?” My friend and I talk regularly on the phone, but each year we also make sure to discuss our yearly goals. She called me that morning, wanting to hear about the list of things that I planned on accomplishing.
“I don’t have any,” I said while grabbing my lunch pail and heading towards my front door.
She paused for a moment and allowed the silence to fill itself. I took that moment to explain. “I’m just doing whatever it is that I want to do.”
I thought back to my trip to Pismo with my sister for my dad’s wedding. Everyone was so worried about what they were going to wear for this winter beach destination wedding on New Years Eve. I spent hours pondering over the right warmth to cute ratio that would say “yes, I’m at the beach and, no I’m not freezing cold on this December morning.”
I found the perfect outfit at my home away from home, Target, and proceeded to have several photo shoots with everyone in attendance. I left the beach with enough confidence to start an empire, but I settled with allowing myself to do whatever the hack I wanted and not worrying about what other people think. To my sister I called it “being and bad bitch for 2020.”
My friend on the phone that morning immediately understood what I meant and continued talking about her own resolutions. “You know how I always have ten to fifteen goals in my list that I stress over while trying to complete each year?”
“Yeah,” I said thinking back to her resolutions of buying a house, moving across country, starting a creating business, and just ruling at life and then ACTUALLY doing it— in one year.
“Well, I only have five things this year,” she continued to explain. “I don’t want to stress over trying to cross off so many things on a long list.”
“Yeah, that’s kind of how I’m taking it.” Although my thoughts towards the New Year were a little less eloquently put than my friend’s. There was no traffic that morning, and when I got to work I rearranged my day as it went on and prioritized what needed to get done and then did it. No overbearing and overarching list of fixed goals would stress me into not accomplishing any of them. I would just do whatever it was that I wanted to do.
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