Does anyone panic (or even think) about the New Year’s resolutions they made 51 weeks ago? Has anyone kept theirs?
If you haven’t, you aren’t alone. Research has shown that about 80 per cent of those who make resolutions fail by February and only eight per cent keep them all year.
I am one hundred per cent in the first category. I’m not even sure I made it to February but I thought about it last week and tried to get back on track for at least the last couple of days of the year. Maybe pointless but maybe not.
I vowed at the beginning of the year to make my bed every day. Seems simple but something I’ve always struggled with. I’ve never really seen the point but studies have shown that people who make their bed every day have less stress throughout the day and generally have better attitudes.
As a busy mom of three young girls, I could use less stress and anything that can improve my mood. But I’ve often felt that it isn’t an important task and there are better ways to spend my time. No one sees it anyway and there are often monkeys jumping on my bed at some point messing everything up.
However, the more research I did on my New Year’s resolution, the more I realized how important it is. Making the bed sets the tone for the day and can encourage you to keep up that productivity throughout the day. It gives you an easy task to accomplish first thing which in turn gives you a sense of pride.
Making the bed looks good too and may inspire you to keep the rest of your room clean. Even if those things don’t come true, you’ll at least be able to crawl into a nice clean bed at the end of the day.
I wish I could prove the hypothesis, but I failed. However, I won’t beat myself up about it. Feeling guilty or ashamed isn’t going to get my bed made. I’m going to learn from this past year and try again.
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Experts say it is easier to keep a resolution if you focus on a passion instead of a concrete, maybe unachievable goal. For example, make a resolution to do more yoga instead of losing 20 pounds.
Or try something offbeat and make a different kind of resolution instead of sticking to one thing. It could be fun to aim to try something new every month.
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There are ways to get your kids into the fun too. The key is to sit down and talk with them about it, come up with some goals together.
They are more likely to keep their resolutions if they have a say in them. I’m hoping that my children will see me making my bed every day and follow suit. We can hold each other accountable.
Here’s to another year of trying …. (that’s what is important, right?)
@MariscaDekkema
marisca.bakker@interior-news.com
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