The previous year has seriously tested us… we were controlled, we were frustrated and angry, we were desperate and we were challenged like we had never been challenged before.

For a lot of us it felt as if we were taken our freedom: free to go wherever we want to go, to see whoever we want to see, to travel wherever we want to travel, to do whatever we want to do… We were restricted from going out late, seeing friends and family, from having a pint in a pub, going to the fitness, a museum, a concert,… It certainly felt a-typical in this day and age!

Whenever restrictions were loosened, people went wild and didn’t want to know about cutting on alcohol, eating healthy or setting goals to become a better person… they wanted to enjoy life to the fullest and not face any limitations. Understandably in my opinion!

Normally, when a new year approaches, people look back at what the previous year has brought, they make up a balance of what’s been good and what could have gone better and they think about making resolutions and setting goals for the coming year.

I was no different… each year I set myself some goals. I even blogged about them during the year to make sure I didn’t forget about them. Writing about it, even helped me to achieve them.

For 2021 I didn’t even think about setting myself goals… it felt I would set myself restrictions and honestly, I was sick and tired of restrictions and I couldn’t care less about New Year’s resolutions!

I have been following a woman on Instagram for some time now… a very inspiring woman called Michele Charles Gustafson. She is a lifecoach and the author of the book ‘Show up confident’. On the very first day of 2021 I saw a short interview with her she did on a Canadian television channel and it certainly inspired me. It made me change the way I looked at resolutions, because why make resolutions, when you can make intentions instead?! The difference? When you make an intention, the reason you want to change becomes the motivator instead of just naming the change…

I’ll give you an example to make this clear… a resolution would be ‘I want to loose the 8 coronakilo’s I gained in 2020’… an intention is ‘I want to be a healthier person, take care of my body and I want to improve my condition’. It shifts the focus from what you want to achieve to what you want to learn/be instead, which will motivate you much more.

Now if I want to make that intention true, chances are that I will loose some kilo’s. Will it be 8? Perhaps not, but being healthier and in better shape is what I am aiming for. In the end it is more important to be healty than to loose those 8 kilos isn’t it?

Now this is only one example. I’m sure if you think of your own situation, you’ll come up with something more applicable to you. Why don’t you try it out? You can always check the website or instagramaccount from Michele Charles Gustafson to get you going….

Good luck!

Love, Kathleen