Set intentions not resolutions for 2024

This year I’m not going to set any resolutions. In previous years I’ve written about this, and why I think New Year’s Resolutions are Bollox.

However, if you’re like me, you do like a list, and that inner desire to keep on learning, developing, letting go of what no longer serves you and generally living a better life.

What I don’t like a resolutions is that they’re so final, measurable and just plain hard. I often feel despondent and like I’ve let myself down when I can’t reach the lofty goals I set.

Hard resolutions for your skin and allergies

When you set resolutions like this you are almost setting yourself up to fail, or at least making life hard for yourself. Especially if you are living with limiting conditions and don’t have as many spoons as other people. Here are few examples of hard ones:

Do yoga every day, because it really helps my breathing, anxiety and wellbeing
Eat clean, low inflammation food only, no processed foods and no alcohol
Get up an hour early every day to do gratitude journalling, set intentions, go for a walk

These all sounds great, but if you write down that you will try to this every day, you probably will fail. If you CAN maintain A star commitment well done, you are more motivated than many of us.

Measurable objectives are fantastic, particularly in business, but our lives are not machines, or organisations. We are human beings, not human doings and we need to spend more time being humans rather than doing stuff. I forget who coined this phrase but I love it and it’s always stuck with me.

Setting intentions for your skin and allergies

Give yourself more grace, more acceptance and more peace this year, here are some different ideas for setting intentions, instead of hard goals.

I will try to move more, get out into nature more, and find time to practice yoga for breathing, yin yoga and strength yoga.
I will continue to make plans to meet others at Parkrun (this makes me more accountable and more likely to go) and continue to do bootcamp. If you already have good habits in place, set an intention to continue doing these, when you can.
If my skin, asthma or allergies are really affecting me I will give myself some time out, to rest, relax and recover from the stress of daily life. Spending time doing absolutely nothing is underrated.
I will continue to declutter because that is giving me so much joy, pleasure and more space to enjoy my home.
I will chose one factual book or podcast every month and learn something about a subject I am interested in.
I will continue to explore more plant foods, choosing new, different colours and bringing in whole foods, local, organic food into my diet where I can.
STOP apologising for my skin, having allergies, being an inconvenience and instead ‘own it’ and be confident, proud and in control.
Keep on journaling when I can, colouring when I’m stressed and just relaxing and breathing when everything is too much.
Carry on loving my blog and keep on blogging for enjoyment – not setting any targets… just carrying on doing my little old thing

I know these may seem more vague than traditional resolutions but give yourself a break. What if you are already brilliant and doing what you can? It’s OK to have intentions that create more space, peace and calm in your life.

Making intentions work

By setting intentions, you are making even very small steps a win. You can break these down into tiny little goals, and you will hopefully find it easier to stick to. It allows you to have weeks where you might not achieve much, but you know you will start again afresh the following week.

Intentions can also be the idea of stopping doing certain things if you know they don’t help. I love this idea:

Start – this is the resolutions part – what are you going to do to be great?
Continue – what are you doing already that you love? that really helps your mental health etc. Keep doing these good practises.
Stop – anything that hurts you, doesn’t fill you with joy, makes you feel bad. Easier said than done I know with some stuff so get help and support if you need it.

It also means that if you do feel like some chocolate, you haven’t failed if you give into those cravings. If you have sweet tooth, you could explore different, healthier sources such as maple syrup, dates, coconut sugar etc. As you probably know, normal sugar is highly processed and can exacerbate inflammation in those susceptible to skin problems and eczema.

You may also find ‘Ditch resolutions: Make intentions instead’ and ‘Setting intentions, not just resolutions’.

Focus on the positive experiences and be thankful — ***Focus on positive experiences***

The positive gratitude jar

I’ve done this before and am going to reinstate it this year. Get a jar, box or even a bag and write Positivity Jar on a label on the outside. Have some fun, you can label it anything… Magic, Gratitude, anything. Then write on a piece of paper any time something wonderful happens. That could be anything from finding a Jay’s feature to reaching a goal or target. It could be a huge achievement or a small one, but make it something that brought you joy. Then at New Year, get cosy, grab a blanket and sit down with your jar. Take out the pieces of paper and read what you wrote. It’s a really heart warming exercise. In a similar way I do this by reviewing my journal (Passion Planner) at end of each year.

I’d love to know your thoughts. Did you set resolutions? Or did you ditch them?

Finally, I’m loving everyone else’s resolution posts. Check out Micki Rose’s Change one thing series for some inspiration which won’t take too much time, effort and struggle.