New Year, New You

Every January, the phrase “New Year, New You” makes its predictable return. Big intentions. Fresh starts. A brief but sincere belief that this will be the year everything finally comes together. It usually comes with bold promises, fresh planners, and a brief but intense belief that this will be the year everything finally clicks. By mid-January, most of us have come to our senses and made a few adjustments. For some, that gym bag that was once full of good intentions is now sitting in the corner holding snacks, and that slick new planner is still mostly blank. The “new you” looks a lot like the old one, just with better intentions. When it comes to New Year’s resolutions, most of us don’t actually reinvent ourselves. We set goals in ways that feel very familiar. Maybe you want to step outside your comfort zone a little to shake things up, which means stretching into the less preferred part of your personality.

Authentic Blues will come into the new year with reflection and purpose. There’s often a resolution to spend less time thinking about what they should be doing and more time paying attention to what actually matters to them. Turning a love of self-improvement into something practical sounds appealing, until it starts to feel a bit like work. Of course, there’s always the very reasonable goal of scaling back on thank-you notes, to save a few trees and keep the budget in check, while still making sure people feel appreciated.

Inquiring Greens will start the year with a want to improve things thoughtfully and efficiently. There may be a resolution to read one book that isn’t on a carefully curated list of “essential knowledge,” just to branch out a little. A goal that stretches the limits of their personality might be to ask fewer “why” questions, or at least ask them out loud instead of by email, where they tend to multiply. A more ambitious resolution could involve overanalyzing fewer minor decisions, or at least shortening the pros and cons list before committing.

Organized Golds will greet January with a plan… and a back-up plan, or two. Some may resolve to plan a spontaneous adventure and see how it goes without detailed scheduling. Others might want to stop rescuing everyone else’s calendars, unless it’s truly needed, in which case that resolution can be revisited. But the biggest stretch could be the personal challenge, rebelling against themselves by leaving one part of life completely unorganized. An out-of-the-way closet, maybe. One that NO ONE is allowed to open. Ever.

Resourceful Oranges start the year energized by possibility. There may be a resolution to finish one project that’s been lingering, since January of last year, or to start a few new ones that feel more exciting. Collecting stories that come from experiences instead of stuff is a common theme, unless the stuff is really, really interesting or has a good story attached to it already. Limiting hobbies to a “manageable” number sounds sensible in January, but flexibility tends to be part of the plan.

You can start the year with a loose plan, a bunch or research, a clear intention, or a burst of motivation, then watch it slowly morph into something different by the time February rolls around, and the realities of life settle in. Some resolutions will stick, and others will disappear without a formal goodbye. That doesn’t mean the exercise was pointless; the value is in noticing how you approach change in the first place. Do you research it? Reflect on it? Organize it? Jump straight in and see what happens? Those tendencies don’t vanish just because the calendar flips, and they don’t need fixing. New Year’s resolutions have a way of revealing who we already are, especially when we’re trying to be better versions of ourselves.