We all know that being a good person and making a difference in this world is a twisted bundle of expectations and ideas, but what if it’s actually more simple than we think?

I want to talk to you today about resolutions. And I’m not talking about new year’s resolutions, however, if you’re interested in my ideas about that, you can read a post I wrote about that on our sister site by clicking here. But New Year has grown into something else entirely. I want to talk about the word “resolution”. 

Resolution

   Now, the word resolution, as I understand it, is pretty simple. It means something that you want to do. It’s like a goal that you have for yourself. And we make these resolutions all the time in our lives. We think that we’re going to form ourselves into entirely new people that we can finally respect and be proud of. And I suppose that’s quite hopeful, albeit a bit misguided. 

   The thing is, you don’t get anywhere by just dreaming about it. It’s true, you need to take some actions to make positive change. But this is where this discussion gets really good. 

I was wrong

   You see, a resolution isn’t really a goal. Now, this is a semantics discussion, but stay with me because it makes all the difference. A resolution is something you resolve to do. 

   And when we talk about resolve, that’s not a weak word. That’s a strong word with a determination behind it—nothing like the New Year’s resolutions that we’re used to seeing. Resolving to do something is like committing yourself to an entirely new way of being. 

Our idea of change

   I point this out because nearly everybody has goals these days. We’ve all read self help books and things about achievable goal setting and we think that we just need to alter our goals just perfect in order to make a lasting change. Like our brain just hasn’t figured out our goal-achieving personality and we just have to bridge the gap, but don’t worry we’ll get there eventually. And I hate to tell you, but that’s just not how this works. 

   I have to admit, I’m guilty of it as well. I think if only I can make my goal achievable enough—specific, measurable (so on and so forth) and I dream about it often enough then of course I’m going to get there. And don’t even get me started on the law of attraction, okay? But here’s the thing. No matter how well you tweak your environment to support a new habit or the breaking of an old one, there comes a point when you just have to get going and do the thing. 

Action

   And I think this is where a lot of people lose out on the agent of change. It’s action. When you see that you’re not where you want to be in life, it’s up to you to make changes until you’re the kind of person that you’re looking to be. And in my opinion, the same goes for how you relate to the world. 

   What I mean is, it’s not about the willpower with being vegan or saving water or volunteering or recycling or anything like that. It’s about looking around at the state of things and realizing that you want to be part of the solution, or at least less of a part of the problem, and then deciding to live your life that way. You need to take the actions to live in alignment with your values, and you need to do so consistently, for your own mental state. Nobody else can do it for you, and just thinking about it won’t get it done either. 

Mindset

   But there does need to be a foundation for this action to take place, and that’s in your mindset. You’ve got to look at what you’ve done in the past as simply a story, and not your identity. You’ve got to place your identity in what you want to become—learn to resonate with that idea instead of what you’ve always done or who you’ve always been. If you identify with your past more than what you’re trying to build for your future, you’ll always be bound to your bad habits and less than ideal actions. 

   So when we’re talking about resolving to do something, it has everything to do with the mental side first, but not in the way that most people go about it. It’s not about setting up the perfectest path of goals. It’s about having the “why” in your mind and altering the vision of who you know yourself to be. This goes for anything in life, but I think the most important aspect of this is learning to live by your own values for sharing the world. Learning to live up to all of those things that you wish everyone else would do to save this world is the first step towards a clear conscience. And it is within your power to do so, whether or not the rest of the world follows. 

Resolve

   So resolve to be the kind of person you wish you were. Resolve to take the actions in your daily life that you can be proud of. Learn to master the little daily occurrences that together, make up the life you’re living. If you don’t want to contribute to a problem, learn how to stop contributing to it and live by that creed. In the little moments. In the daily grind. And know that you always have the power to take one small step forward, whatever that might look like for you. 

   Thank you for reading my thoughts. If you’re interested in more content about making the world a better place, consider subscribing to the blog to get email updates when new posts get uploaded. And as always, have a great day!