Winter and Why I Think New Year's Resolutions Fail

For a while now, but especially during the past few days, all I've felt like doing is hibernating. It's Winter, and the Winter Solstice just passed, so that makes sense. But now is the time that people start planning for the new year, setting goals and New Year's resolutions. Typically, it's almost expected that people will fail at their New Years resolutions, and often this is true. The other day I got to thinking about why this tends to be true. I think it's because we're trying to go against the energetic flow of the cycle of the seasons. Yes, it's a new calendar year. Yes, even energetically it technically is a new year, with the passing of the Winter Solstice. Every day from now until the Summer Solstice the days grow longer. However, right now, it is still thoroughly winter. It is still a time of dormancy, hibernation, energy conservation, etc. It is still a more internal time of year, rather than an external time of year. I think this is part of why we fail in following through with our New Year's resolutions. Energetically, this is not a time of year for big change, outward expression, movement, achievement. So trying to make big changes now is in direct opposition to how things are energetically. I think it is this opposition that makes it difficult for us to follow through and achieve changes at this time of year, regardless of what the calendar says.

I think it is more realistic to start planning for the upcoming year. Start with more internal work, small changes. Think about what is happening in nature right now, obviously considering local, bio-regional differences. In general, the tiniest stirrings of awakening may be happening, but internally. The light is just barely making its start towards brightness. So we sense the change, the shift, yet energetically things are still moving very slowly, if at all. This is what we should be doing too. Start slowly thinking about what our goals are for the next year. Make the focus more internal, perhaps through journaling or working with some of the many resources for setting goals and intentions for the upcoming year. Don't push yourself. Respect that you may still be feeling the need to hibernate. Go easy, be gentle.

I'm thinking that while the calendar year has changed, we are fighting the flow if we try to make big changes too early, too soon. My goal is to start doing some thinking about the upcoming year, setting some goals and intentions over the next few months. Closer to the Spring Equinox makes more energetic sense for me to start planting the seeds and nurturing the growth of those goals and intentions. I'm going to try that this year and see if this will help me to be more successful in making the changes I want to make.