Mention writing New Year’s Resolutions and you get a cringe response. Talk about developing independence and you get some attention. Talk about setting learning intentions and you get respect. Yet, there is a considerable overlap between all these things. I always write New Year’s Resolutions myself and with students. The intention is to resolve to try something new and implement positive habits.
Athletes will agree that you get better at a sport through practice. Academics will extoll the virtues of study. You need to show up and you need to opt in to improve at pretty much anything. One of my great fears in my early 20’s was doing a 10 km run. Although I was a jogger, I thought it would be SO embarrassing to have to stop. My fiancés response:
“Wow. Who’s been playing with your head?”
His response years later when I worried about hitting the ball on the first tee at a “big” golf course,
“Has your dad popped in for a visit?”
All of us have experiences and interactions that pop into our heads and discourage us from taking the risk of trying new things. However, if it stops you from trying, you adopt an “I can’t attitude.” Kids like adults develop confidence and independence by assuming an “I can” attitude. When they are defined by a positive attitude, the possibilities are endless. They may not accomplish all their New Year’s Resolutions, but they may learn about themselves and what makes a goal achievable in the midst of the process. That in itself is worthy of a celebration!
Eleanor Roosevelt has been widely attributed with the quote,
“Do something that scares you every day.”
Once you’ve done it enough times, it’s no longer scary. I now have many 10 k runs under my belt and my drive is the best part of my golf game. I wrote a thesis that needed to be defended because the prospect terrified me. It catapulted me into a new way of seeing myself and my perception of myself as a writer. This year many of my resolutions are defined by good habits and things I’ve always wanted to do, like learning to make soap and to speak Spanish. I still have one that scares me, to give me a good push.
Inquire2Empower 