Inhale the Dream, Exhale the Doubt: Setting Goals in the New Year with Self Care

By: Kiara Cooper

Attaining goals is like having your own business and time management is at the center of it all. You don’t always have a plan for each new year but it is always nice to make a plan to show your growth. Sometimes you need a little motivation and that can go a long way.

Tired of The New Year, New Cliche

The start of the new year is often a positive vibe to start anew where people can reflect on the past and see how far they’ve come. As humans wanting to connect, we often want to rectify certain things about ourselves for the new year. It’s usually not long before we’ve come to the realization that we haven’t changed anything.

Basically, I doubt the fact that the flip of the calendar will suddenly be the motivation for individuals to change their ways. It takes 21 days to build a habit and quite frankly it is hard to get to 14 days sometimes.

I, for one, never fully finished my goals for 2020 so I plan to take them to 2021 with additional tasks and boundaries. I’m sure I’m not alone in my resolutions and goals getting ‘side-tracked’ in 2020. We get sucked into the “you only live once” motto that we live every day, not planning or expecting differences.

Many of my past New Year’s “resolutions” have been continuous, and I can admit I have not been truly working on myself as an individual and elevating myself for the better. I plan to accomplish many set goals and unexpected goals that may pop-up throughout the year. I’m all in.

What Did I Learn About Myself?

I can honestly say the past year has been filled with tremendous growth and allowed me to set a basis for the structure I plan to build. Implementing small goals that will get me through the day, week, and/or month helped set a foundation I needed to do my best work.

I spent most of January refocusing, resting, and researching. After moving to Pittsburgh, volunteering, going from job to job, and going back to school, it was time I figure out who I was and what I wanted to do with my career.

And that I did.