2022: Year of FUN
F-U-2021, F-U-N-2022
I don't know about you, but 2021 kicked my butt. Instead of spiraling into misery, and telling you about my year of burnout, panic attacks, and ugly crying, I am going to tell you about my plans(resolution, but scheduled) for the year of 2022. Effective immediately, I am going to have a lot of fun. Yep, even when I am writing this. I'm dancing at my stand-up desk while I type. Of course I still plan on eventually collecting $200,000.00 when passing "Go"(inflation, look it up Monopoly), fitting into my skinny jeans again, and writing a New York Times best selling book(you know, attainable resolutions), but, the important part is that I am going to have fun doing it.
The truth is that this was my Dad's resolution a few years back. Let me briefly introduce this legendary character, who I call Dad. This is a guy who quickly transitions into a silly-walk when walking downtown, to get his daughters laughing. He is quite honestly the real life Ted Lasso, or the personification of Disneyland. His expressions or sayings are unlike any other, and his positivity and humor brighten any room that he (silly)walks into. His idea to have more fun, is so simple, yet so smart.
In the past, by mid-January I would have already bid adieu to sugar, committed myself to a militant exercise class, and stopped smiling in the process of becoming my goal weight. I would have hammered out an essay and submitted it to a writing contest or a magazine, whilst guzzling 9 americanos, and abandoning all the reasons I like to write in the first place. I would have stared defeatedly into my online banking account, concluded that I need to take a second job(who am I kidding), or sell photos of my feet, and that I spend far too much money on food (I will never change this, and you can't make me). Not this year. Fun comes first.
Having fun is my gentle way of taking baby steps towards my goals, and feeling good enough to keep taking those baby steps. Before I know it, I will be taking grown-woman silly-walk steps all over these resolutions, and having fun every step of the way. I will, instead of the aforementioned weight-loss torture cycle, play the Smartless podcast in the kitchen while trying healthy new recipes, attend fun Peloton classes with Cody Rigsby (and laugh at 30% of his commentary because he is hilarious), and arrange walks (six feet away from)beside my awesome friends and perfect dog outside. I will seek out writing projects that excite me, or I feel inspired to take on, while eating things other than(or in addition to) americanos (if you're doing it right, coffee is edible). I will use my spending plan to plot exciting purchases and travel ahead, and track my progress on saving for more responsible/grown-up (yawn)things at the same time. See what I am getting at here?
Fun removes all of the pressure and obsessive focus on my goals. It instead makes a new habit, which otherwise would have felt like a chore, into a pleasant and playful task. Telling someone to go have fun, versus telling them to go do a chore, are two very different things. Which person do you think is more excited to do what you told them to do? Which person do you think is just going to shove all of their clothes in the closet? Having fun is motivating, and makes everything more reachable. At the end of the year, do you think I will be pissed off that I didn't write a best selling book, and instead wrote a ton of projects that I am proud of and are hilarious? No, I will be motivated to keep going, and I will probably have gotten even better at putting words into sentence places(I write good). I wouldn't be upset my skinny jeans didn't fit, because by then I will probably be wearing jeans that I can dance in instead, and have the cardio of a cheetah. Alright, I'm not sure I can look you in the (screen) eyes and tell you that $200,000.00 isn't fun. I can, however, tell you that saving money because I am motivated to reach my goal feels a whole hell of a lot better than selling photos of my feet online, or heaven forbid, taking on a second job.
While I refuse to shrink my dreams, I know there is a gentler way to get to them, and that way is by having fun. By removing the seriousness, or the demand to accomplish a resolution by a specific time, it becomes easy and effortless to make progress on my resolutions instead. I haven't forgone my ambitions, I have instead taken steps towards them. Time flies when you're having fun. So, while you might say it is time I make more reasonable resolutions; I say that you're wrong. Watch me get there with a smile on.
About the Creator
Lindsay Neal
Whitehorse, YT, Canada.
Aspiring Celiac Breadwinner
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