Sophie’s advice for new year’s resolutions

It’s 2018, and in the dawn of a new year many of us are busy working on our New Year’s resolutions.

A new year can be a good time to strive to improve ourselves, personally and often professionally as well. So, I decided to give some thought to the changes I can make to my life and how I can improve as a wife, a daughter and a swan.

Over the last few weeks the TV and radio has been filled with adverts for weight loss programs, giving up alcohol or joining the gym. So, I followed suit and I set myself a resolution to “get fit” and “get healthy”. Dan and I decided straight away that we’d go to the gym twice at the weekend. The weekend arrived, and long story short we did not make it to the gym. I felt so disappointed in myself that we’d failed at the first hurdle, but then I started thinking about this a bit more.

Why do I have to get fitter just because it’s January and that’s what everyone else is doing?

I might not be the fittest I’ve ever been, but I’m pretty happy. I realised I had set myself a resolution based on what I thought I should be doing instead of what I actually wanted to do. A resolution should be something that, deep down, you really want to achieve or accomplish. Yes, getting fitter would be nice, but my “get fit” resolution did not motivate me or inspire me to get moving.

Instead, I’ve set myself two 2018 goals:

1. To join a local dance school and complete my next ballroom and Latin exams.
2. Get better at cooking and try one new meal every week.

In turn it might be that dancing helps me to “get fit” and cooking new meals helps me “get healthy” but if they don’t, I haven’t failed. I’ll be enjoying myself in the process and I feel really motivated to achieve these personal goals.

New Year’s Resolutions should be less about changing and more about improving ourselves. By re-defining my goals, I have a new focus on improving me and this will help me to become the very best “me” I can be.