When I lived in Italy as a missionary, we were required to be home and inside our apartments by 6pm on New Year’s Eve. No one ever officially told me why, but, of course, the rumors and urban legends were rampant. These stories explained how wild things could get, including tales of people literally throwing old things out their windows and into the streets below at midnight to symbolically bring in the new year.¹

Let me get this out of the way: I am not opposed to New Year’s resolutions. It is nice to have a fresh start. The passing of a year helps us feel as if we can put the old behind us and ring in the new.

I used to set New Year’s resolutions. I’d set goals in four categories: physical, intellectual, spiritual, social.²

But I don’t really set them anymore. I’ve tried to shift my mindset into one of continual improvement, rather than large, annual goals.

Last summer, I started seeing posts of this guy on Instagram giving fitness and nutrition advice. What he had to say resonated with me–it was practical, doable, and real. Definitely not gimmicky. I liked what I was seeing so I decided to follow his account.

A few days later, I received a direct message from Craig thanking me for following his account and asking me what my fitness goals were.

“Here we go,” I thought. I decided I would message back, thinking this was some sort of bot or some corporate employee messaging me from a cubicle.

“Overall health. Weight loss.  Nutrition. The way I look at the beach.”

He responded and we messaged back and forth for a while. Then he said he wanted to talk to me on the phone. We did so, and when the time came to speak to cubicle guy, I was shocked to find out it was actually the real Craig! He set me up with one of his trainers for a screening call to see how and if they could help me. I did that but at the end, had some reasons why now wasn’t a good time to start an exercise and nutrition program–I had just started a new job; I was going to be moving soon. I told him it might be better if I started after the new year.

Craig messaged me to follow up. “Here we go again,” I thought. Now he is going to put the hard sell on me. But, I didn’t ghost him and said I would talk to him and I was going to hold firm on my need to wait.

We talked and he was super cool about it and said he would follow up with me after my move.

Then some time over the next week, I felt a tinge of guilt as Craig posted a new message on his Instagram account of which I could have been the inspiration.

“Here is why you should start your fitness journey today even if it is a busy season in your life right now. I know you might be thinking right now is not a good time. Let’s be real: there’s always gonna be another thing that’s coming up because next is Halloween, it’s Christmas, it’s New Year’s and then what? If you can only survive through perfect conditions with your fitness you’ll never be successful. But if you start now and push through the busy season the next time you encounter it, it’ll be a piece of cake.”³

I mean I am sure it wasn’t really aimed at me, right? Even if it was, he would probably never say so. But I needed the message. Why wait? Because I needed perfect conditions? Because it was inconvenient? Because I was looking for a symbolically clean timeline?

If I start now, I will be better for it today. And tomorrow. And next year.

So, I’ve changed my mindset.

If we can only survive through perfect conditions with any personal improvement we want to make, then we will never be successful

The only moment in my life I can control right now is now. I can’t control the past–I can learn from it. I can’t control the future–I can prepare for it. Now is when I can both learn and prepare–and become.

I need to strive for new resolve every day, not just once a year.

Sounds exhausting! But it doesn’t have to be. Each day is an opportunity to be better or to get better. I still focus on those four areas: physical, intellectual, spiritual, social. But I work on those a little bit every day.

Elder David A. Bednar said, “If today you are a little bit better than you were yesterday, then that’s enough. And, if tomorrow you are a little bit better than you were today, then that’s enough.”⁴

We are almost one quarter through the new year? How is “New Year, new you” going for you? I hope well. But my point is, we don’t have to wait for a new year to start anew.

If your new year’s goals are already a thing of the past, don’t wait for nine months in the future to start again—start today! If you have things that you want to put behind you, throw them out the window (not literally, please)—today!

Recently, I have shared three of blog posts that are somewhat related to my thinking on this:

What Does the New Year Hold for You?

We don’t need to wait for a new year to change–every day is a new opportunity to improve.

Don’t Forget Your Dramamine!

If we want to change, we should know where we are headed; some careful thought about that beforehand is worth time it takes to prepare.

New Mornings

A new year is ahead—with 365 new mornings. Each day is an opportunity to be better or to get better. And if it doesn’t happen tomorrow or the next day, or the next, just remember that a new morning is ALWAYS on the horizon.

Also, my friend Cherie recently posted about something similar:

New.

She wrote, “Today is January 1st. New Year’s Day. I think my New Year’s resolution will be to celebrate Now. Happy New Day. Happy New Hour. New Minute. New Second. Every single one has the chance to be good. Really, if there’s anything I learned from my sister, that may be the secret of life, right there.”

So, here is to a new you…today!

^{Lead photo by Victor Freitas on Pexels}

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¹“This custom is still alive in different parts of Italy, including large cities like Naples and Rome. At midnight, some Italians throw out the window old things (usually crockery). This ritual symbolizes that you let go of what is useless and that you get rid of evil (physical and moral) accumulated during the year, to make room for a fresh start” (see Studia In Italia).

² see Luke 2:52

³ see Craig’s post here

⁴ David A. Bednar, Act in Doctrine: Spiritual Patterns for Turning From Self to the Savior