Resolving

As we move toward a new year, many of us will be thinking about setting resolutions.  As is so often the case with new goals, we may set off with the best of intentions and throw ourselves forward into change only to find ourselves sliding back into old habits: the gym membership that sits expensively unused, the growing credit card bill we ignore, the books stacked on the shelf unread.  Making change sustainable can be a challenge.

But “resolution” has many layers of meaning: it is the forward-looking goal or intention that we set ourselves through the coming year, the determination and sense of purpose that we need to achieve that goal, and a state of completeness, a settlement of previous discord, a conclusion.

To prepare ourselves for bringing sustainable change into our lives, we need to be ready to resolve and be at peace with whatever has been holding us back.  Sometimes this means taking a good honest look at the goal we are setting: what is the reason for this resolution?  What is important about achieving this now?  What will it take to get there?  What will life be like when we get to this future state?  Understanding what our motivations are can help us make the right resolutions by reconciling our desired future with where we came from.

My resolution for 2019 is to continue using my career and my volunteering work to push for the changes that I want to see in the world.  Part of this goal is to build in structured waypoints to reflect on my progress, acknowledge what I am achieving, and figure out how I can continue improving by using my skills and resources in a sustainable way, so that I can be a productive agent for change over a long period of time.

As we stand at the turning point of the year looking back on what has happened and ahead to what is next for us, I wish you all the resolution that you need.  May 2019 be what you wish to make of it.