36. New Year Resolutions are not for me!

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Hello darling heart, and welcome to the Drink Less Live Better podcast. This is the podcast that helps you to see that drinking

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less doesn't need to be stressful, lonely, or boring. I'm your host, Sarah Williamson, and I decided to have a year alcohol

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free as a little life experiment and haven't looked back. With my experience in training, I now help other women with their

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alcohol free and drink less adventures. I'm here to tell you that you can be truly joyful without alcohol in your life. Join

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me here each week to find out how. Today, I'd like to tell you a story about new year resolutions and the number of times

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they worked out well for me. Okay. So there was that time, back in, you know, the start of, that year. Yeah. The one where

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I well, okay. Yeah. Yeah. So there was that occasion, never, when it works out well. I remember all the way back to being

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a teenager and following the advice in just 17 to get ready for the year ahead. There were always ideas to follow about health,

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fitness, exercise, and of course, the most toxic idea of all, diet. I would dutifully write down the punishing ideas in the

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front of my diary and set about sticking to them religiously for about a week, maybe 2, if I was feeling really motivated.

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I never stopped to think about how any of these new year resolutions I wrote down ever made me feel. I wrote down all of these

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ideas that focused on stopping things, not enjoying things, and generally depriving myself of nice things. What nonsense?

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Now if you've been an avid new year resolutioner all your life and have met with success and joy at every turn, then I wish

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you well. Congratulate you, and you now have my full permission to turn this episode off and skip to your next listen. But

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if you ever stared resolution failure full in the face by the 2nd week in January, let's go deeper. If it's not a resolution,

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what is it? For me, it's likely to be a goal, an intention, or an experiment. I feel I can work these words into anything

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I want to keep as a positive future focus. My original goal around alcohol, I called my year long alcohol free experiment.

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My first piece of advice is to never wait until any date, let alone the first of January, to get started. Just start now.

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If you'd like to run a 10 k race in the next 6 months, run around the block today. If you'd like to build more muscle, do

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10 squats, 10 push ups, and 10 crunches today. If you'd like to enjoy more savoury foods, don't buy those soup biscuits in

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the supermarket today. So start now, almost before you're ready. You don't need a finely drawn out plan to get started. You

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can pull together all the actions you need as you go along. Okay. Pen and notebook at The Ready Kids. Number 1, don't choose

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goals that are all about negativity or punishment, stopping doing something. Can you choose a positive phrasing? Number 2,

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can you do the thing? I hope it's a stretch goal or intention or experiment that scares you slightly. Number 3, label the

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amount of time. Set an end date. We're not here for endless time frames. Life is too short for that shizzle. Don't tell me

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that what you're choosing is forever. Just the foreseeable future is okay. 4, hell, get some whether that's in real life or

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online. Find your people, your mentor, or another source of inspiration. And 5, don't hate on yourself. Don't look for goals

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where you don't need them. Choose intentions that fill your heart with a jolt of joy or inspiration, and know that when you've

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achieved them, however long they last for, you will feel rightly proud of yourself. Thank you for being part of my ambition

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to have a podcast in 2021. At the start of the year, this project wasn't even in my mind, and now I'm 8 months into it. Thank

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you for listening to this episode and please listen in again next time. PS. I believe in you.