Intentions Over Resolutions: There Is Nothing Broken to Fix This Year
Written by Maggie Latta-Milord, LCMHCA, LPSC
Psychotherapist
Before we reach the point of a new year, we go through a holiday season that can hold with it a juxtaposition of emotional extremes. Peace and stress. Togetherness and disconnection. Gratitude and longing. Magic and monotony. Hope and despair. As this season comes to a close, we find ourselves at the start of a brand new year. A time marked, at its worst, by pressure and reinvention and, at its best, by presence, invitation, and reflection.
If you have ever felt overwhelmed by the “new year, new you” approach to new year’s resolutions or by the intensity and energy of those January gym goers, these thoughts on a new year of growth and acceptance are for you.
Align your growth with your values
What values do you want to focus on in the new year? How can you align growth with those values? Take a moment to consider your answers. Once you identify the values you want to focus on this year, you can identify one small thing that feels doable to increase how that value is living out in your day to day.
Examples:
Value: Fun
Goal: I would like to play or walk outside with my kids as a part of our daily routine.
Value: Learning
Goal: I would like to be on screens less and read or listen to audiobooks in the evenings.
Value: Curiosity
Goal: I would like to visit one new-to-me place this year.
Value: Health
Goal: I would like to focus on drinking more water every day.
Learn to celebrate incremental success
Be present along the way and celebrate the small moments of growth and learning. Traditional self-improvement culture doesn’t celebrate our existing strengths and values and sets us up for disappointment. As you live towards your intentions this year, find joy and pride in the small successes along the way.
Give yourself an invitation to keep exploring
Set yourself intentions this new year and give those intentions space to live and evolve with you. The process of self-discovery is ongoing. Be sure that your intentions have the flexibility you need for success. For you, the intention may just be a word, like “connect” or “ask” that holds a deeper meaning for you in your relational, personal, or professional goals. Or, it may work for you to set more specific intentions that allow you to identify small points of change or growth.
As the new year begins, may it feel less like a demand to become someone different and more like an invitation to come home to yourself. Growth does not have to be loud, extreme, or visible to others to be meaningful. When it is rooted in your values, honored through small steps, and allowed to unfold with curiosity, it becomes sustainable. This year, consider releasing the pressure to overhaul your life and instead practice noticing what already matters to you. Let your intentions guide you gently, celebrate yourself along the way, and trust that growth can happen slowly, imperfectly, and still be enough. The new year is not a test to pass, but a space to explore one moment at a time.
Author Maggie Latta-Milord, LCMHCA, LPSC is a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor Associate and North Carolina Licensed School Counselor who works with young clients who are building skills to express and cope with emotions in a healthy way and with adult clients who may not have had a chance to build those skills when they were younger. She believes in a strengths-based approach and working together to co-create the therapeutic experience. Your counseling journey will be about you- your needs, your interests, and your goals. With Maggie, you are welcome to be your full authentic self, mess and all, no apologies.
