Need a Fresh New Year's Resolution? Experts Share Theirs

Annual naval gazing and promises to "do it all differently" at New Year's has been happening for a long time. When the Emperor Julius Cesar wanted to make his mark, he consulted astronomers and mathematicians and gave props to his Greek God with two faced Janus, and the New Year as January 1st was born. Interestingly, Janus's faces give him the ability to look back and look forward - so, out with the old and in with the new. 

 

Personally, I am more into the plan and get organized spirit in September than I am in January, as I am often a bit wiped out by the holidays. The other thing since having kids, is that midnight seems really late and I worry about my lucidity in promising to anything at that hour.

 

 

However... this year will be different (the famous New Year's Eve mantra I know...) but I thought I'd take the challenge to get my self good and resolute for 2015. There are lots of areas of my life where I'd like to make some changes and sometimes it's hard to know where to start. So I took it to several writers, personalities, and experts on self, relationships, parenting, and families to see what resolutions they were planning for a healthy 2015.

 

Ron Lieber NYTimes Your Money columnist and author of The Opposite of Spoiled, is vowing to ask more and better questions about money and values at the dinner table.

 

 

Katie Hurley - parenting expert and writer - says that although she doesn't really set specific goals for New Year's Eve her family has a motto that they “Discuss often and practice daily: Be kind. Be patient. Be empathic. Be helpers.”

 

Dr. Dona Matthews- educational expert and author-  lends us a great New Year's resolution she started with her children when they were little: “Perform a daily mitzvah, an act of random kindness, with no expectation of reward—it worked brilliantly to turn around a scratchy time.”

 

 

Rebecca Eanes - author and positive parenting - educator plans to “make sure everyone in my house goes to bed feeling loved, adored, and valued every night.”

 

Andy Smithson - parenting expert and clinical social worker - shares that as a dad of four with a fifth expected in January he is resolving to "set specific time to spend special time individually with each child" to make sure the "just Dad and me" outings happen more often.

 

Andrea Nair - psychotherapist and parenting expert - says that the goal for this year will be to “find rest in everyday.”

 

For sleep expert Alanna McGinn this year, resolutions are not surprisingly about sleep.  She would encourage others to do the same “make sleep a priority and get it in your calendar or set your alarm clock to go to bed, aim to go thirty minutes earlier each night.”

 

Ariadne Brill - positive discipline parenting educator - plans to be deliberate with her time and planning stating that “I notice the weeks that I pause and organize the week well, the whole family dynamic is positive and connected, less rush, less stress.”

 

 

Kali Rogers Life Coach shares, "My New Years Resolution is to minimize the guilt I store in my life. I’ll find that I will sometimes feel guilty over treating myself, not working 24/7, or enjoying myself on a Wednesday. We all should enjoy life and not feel burdened by the drive to be busy and productive every day of every week! So I’m going to try my best to kick my guilt to the curb this year!" 

 

Casey Wilson O'Roarty - positive discipline trainer and life coach - wants to continue with something she already instituted into her life: morning meditation and journalling and wants to “increase my presence through the day and also be aware of when I am letting life happen rather than making life happen”.

 

Life and business coach and self-love expert Alexis Meads of Crazy Wild Love says her goal for this year is to "be more authentically and openly myself. To not compare myself to others or worry what people may think. To allow myself with that intention to be even more real and open in my writing.”

 

And lastly, Matt Clarke, from the hilarious youtube sensation Convos with my Two Year-Old, shares "This year I am resolving to be more present with my family. I need to invent an app that shuts down and locks my phone when it sense that it's family time. This app may save my phone from my wife burying it in the backyard or "accidentally" dropping it in the garbage disposal.

 

As you sit down to make your resolutions, I hope you feel inspired. All in all, rest is a biggie as well as mindfulness, kindness—to self and others, living authentically and with intention, get organized, focus on the family, lose the guilt and embrace the love.

 

 

 

Please share your resolutions below and if you would like to read more about fresh starts please check out New Year's Plan Not Sticking? It's All Okay and Overwhelmed? Make Molehills out of Mountains.

 

Please visit me on my Facebook page where I regularly share articles about healthy relationships with self and others.