{"id":1154,"date":"2026-01-14T19:21:38","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T06:21:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/weblog.bergersen.net\/michelle\/?p=1154"},"modified":"2026-01-14T19:21:38","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T06:21:38","slug":"new-years-resolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/weblog.bergersen.net\/michelle\/2026\/01\/new-years-resolution\/","title":{"rendered":"New Year&#8217;s Resolution"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<p>So I don&#8217;t believe in making New Year&#8217;s Resolutions. But this year I made one. If you have heard me on my soap box about resolutions, you may wonder why?<br \/><br \/>If you haven&#8217;t heard me. My position is basically this:<\/p>\r\n<p>Making a goal for a year, encourages you to think of big year long things you would like to achieve. Most often people will make the big goal and not break it down into achievable steps.<\/p>\r\n<p>As one person put it: Think of the next smallest step that can get you closer to your goal.<\/p>\r\n<p>Which is why folks often get to the end of a year having not achieved the Big goal.<\/p>\r\n<p>I prefer to make monthly or even weekly goals. Sure they may be steps towards a longer Big goal. But they are achievable. Those of us that procrastinate have a deadline that is closer and therefore can&#8217;t be put off as easy as a year long deadline.<\/p>\r\n<p>A year long dead line encourages thoughts which usually start with &#8220;I&#8217;ll do it when &#8230;&#8230;. .<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>I&#8217;ll do it when it&#8217;s not so hot out.<\/li>\r\n<li>I&#8217;ll do it when I get a work out outfit.<\/li>\r\n<li>I&#8217;ll do it when I have figured out where to do it.<\/li>\r\n<li>I&#8217;ll do it when I have a pretty notebook for it.<\/li>\r\n<li>I&#8217;ll do it when I have lost weight.<\/li>\r\n<li>I&#8217;ll do it when I have a house with a spare room.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p>You get the picture.<\/p>\r\n<p>So why after decades of consciously not making any goals on Dec 31 &#8211; Jan 1, have I gone and made one this year?<\/p>\r\n<p>I am a little ashamed to say \u00a0had fallen into &#8216;I&#8217;ll do it when&#8217; syndrome anyhow. For months now I have meant to make a goal that would get me outside for 15 mins a day. Hopefully in the morning.<\/p>\r\n<p>Lately I have been inspired of staying with a niece who would have a quiet cuppa outside, under the eaves, come rain or shine.<\/p>\r\n<p>So New Year&#8217;s Eve I finally bit the bullet and used ant cultural impetus of making a resolution that day.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>I now either garden or have a quiet cuppa on the front step and see the rising sun. It is always a herbal tea. It is usually a Bedtime mix of some kind. Why Bedtime? Because the inclusion of mint always makes me feel like waking up, being alert and fresh.<\/p>\r\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/weblog.bergersen.net\/michelle\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/dawn-Napier-2016-copyrite.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1159\" src=\"https:\/\/weblog.bergersen.net\/michelle\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/dawn-Napier-2016-copyrite-500x377.jpg\" alt=\"Dawn pink hazy light over the inlet.\" width=\"500\" height=\"377\" srcset=\"https:\/\/weblog.bergersen.net\/michelle\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/dawn-Napier-2016-copyrite-500x377.jpg 500w, https:\/\/weblog.bergersen.net\/michelle\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/dawn-Napier-2016-copyrite-1024x772.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/weblog.bergersen.net\/michelle\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/dawn-Napier-2016-copyrite-768x579.jpg 768w, https:\/\/weblog.bergersen.net\/michelle\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/dawn-Napier-2016-copyrite.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>So have I changed my mind on making resolutions on New Year&#8217;s Eve. No I don&#8217;t think so. I still think it encourages grand plans more than doable ones.<\/p>\r\n<p>I much prefer to use a monthly prompt. Either the 1st of each new month, or the New Moon for starting resolutions\/goals on. Mid way through evaluating how its going and tweaking if necessary to reach the goal.<\/p>\r\n<p>Will I use the technique of using it as motivation to finally make a resolution\/goal that I have been putting off? While I hope I don&#8217;t get into the procrastinating making a goal again. I will use it if I have to. But I hope I can get back into the monthly goal setting. And, strangely, maybe it is that that I should have made my New Year&#8217;s resolution to be.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So I don&#8217;t believe in making New Year&#8217;s Resolutions. But this year I made one. If you have heard me on my soap box about resolutions, you may wonder why? If you haven&#8217;t heard me. My position is basically this: Making a goal for a year, encourages you to think of big year long things &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/weblog.bergersen.net\/michelle\/2026\/01\/new-years-resolution\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;New Year&#8217;s Resolution&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[55,113],"tags":[163,162,160,164,161],"class_list":["post-1154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-depression","category-musings","tag-163","tag-goal","tag-new-year","tag-planning","tag-resolution"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7q5gi-iC","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":138,"url":"https:\/\/weblog.bergersen.net\/michelle\/2009\/12\/driving-in-snowy-conditions\/","url_meta":{"origin":1154,"position":0},"title":"Driving in Snowy conditions","author":"Michelle","date":"26 December 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Things you don\u00c2\u00b4t think about when you think of having a white christmas. Driving! You look out the window and see the pretty snow swirling in the shifting breezes. You go outside and shovel snow so that latter the car can get out and you enjoy working together with your\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Norway&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Norway","link":"https:\/\/weblog.bergersen.net\/michelle\/category\/travels\/norway\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1051,"url":"https:\/\/weblog.bergersen.net\/michelle\/2022\/01\/toilet-paper-then-and-now\/","url_meta":{"origin":1154,"position":1},"title":"Toilet Paper, then and now","author":"Michelle","date":"10 January 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Listen to this blog post: https:\/\/weblog.bergersen.net\/michelle\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/toilet-paper-podcast_01.mp3 Back in my day we had a thing called toilet paper. I mean in the 60's and 70's, in New Zealand.Yes I know you think we have toilet paper now. \u00a0And yes I know with Covid and talk of holding things people have talked\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Musings&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Musings","link":"https:\/\/weblog.bergersen.net\/michelle\/category\/musings\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Old advert for Jeyes' toilet paper","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weblog.bergersen.net\/michelle\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Jeyes-Toliet-Paper-holder.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":671,"url":"https:\/\/weblog.bergersen.net\/michelle\/2015\/10\/the-haka\/","url_meta":{"origin":1154,"position":2},"title":"The Haka","author":"Michelle","date":"27 October 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The Haka fills me with fierce pride when I see it done, and done well. It's not just done at the start of a rugby game by the All Blacks. And there is more than one Haka around. But, the Haka (Ka mate, Ka mate)\u00a0performed by the All Blacks is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;New Zealand&quot;","block_context":{"text":"New Zealand","link":"https:\/\/weblog.bergersen.net\/michelle\/category\/new-zealand\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"History of the haka","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weblog.bergersen.net\/michelle\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Screenshot-2015-10-27-16.07.46-500x282.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":924,"url":"https:\/\/weblog.bergersen.net\/michelle\/2019\/04\/father-of-quantum-physics\/","url_meta":{"origin":1154,"position":3},"title":"Father of Quantum Physics &#8211; Max Planck","author":"Michelle","date":"24 April 2019","format":"aside","excerpt":"Max Planck - Father of Quantum Physics Quick Facts 1958 was the 100th birthday of Max Planck. His birthday was 24 April 1858. Max was one of the father's of Quantum physics. Beyond the fact that I am amazed that quantum physics has it's origins so long ago. There is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Education&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Education","link":"https:\/\/weblog.bergersen.net\/michelle\/category\/education\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/d\/da\/Max_Planck..jpg\/800px-Max_Planck..jpg","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/d\/da\/Max_Planck..jpg\/800px-Max_Planck..jpg 1x, https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/d\/da\/Max_Planck..jpg\/800px-Max_Planck..jpg 1.5x, https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/d\/da\/Max_Planck..jpg\/800px-Max_Planck..jpg 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":62,"url":"https:\/\/weblog.bergersen.net\/michelle\/2009\/11\/surprised\/","url_meta":{"origin":1154,"position":4},"title":"Surprised!?!","author":"Michelle","date":"14 November 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"When I moved to Norway I expected to be surprised by some things. In much the same way when I tell people I came form New Zealand they expect me to be surprised by some things. The things that surprised me has not always been as expected from either side.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Norway&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Norway","link":"https:\/\/weblog.bergersen.net\/michelle\/category\/travels\/norway\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Christmas sausage (Julep\u00c3\u00b8lser)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weblog.bergersen.net\/michelle\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/IMG_1229-500x375.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":318,"url":"https:\/\/weblog.bergersen.net\/michelle\/2010\/05\/lapskaus-stew\/","url_meta":{"origin":1154,"position":5},"title":"Lapskaus &#8211; Stew","author":"Michelle","date":"21 May 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I made my first Lapskaus today. Which is a biggie as Jarle's Mum makes a Lapskaus to die for. In fact I may not even tell Jarle it's lapskaus till after he has eaten it so he does not expect it to be like his mother's. Jarle has been sick\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Norway&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Norway","link":"https:\/\/weblog.bergersen.net\/michelle\/category\/travels\/norway\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Lapskaus with thanks, from Marthe42 Blogspot","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weblog.bergersen.net\/michelle\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/lapskaus.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weblog.bergersen.net\/michelle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weblog.bergersen.net\/michelle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weblog.bergersen.net\/michelle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weblog.bergersen.net\/michelle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weblog.bergersen.net\/michelle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1154"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/weblog.bergersen.net\/michelle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1162,"href":"https:\/\/weblog.bergersen.net\/michelle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1154\/revisions\/1162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weblog.bergersen.net\/michelle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weblog.bergersen.net\/michelle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weblog.bergersen.net\/michelle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}