With the holidays drawing to a close, it’s the time where everybody naturally starts reflecting on the year we have had and looking forward to the next. We create resolutions, most of which we probably won’t keep, in the hope of making next year an even better one. After a little thought, I’ve realized that a New Year’s resolution that we should all have is simple, one word in fact – perspective.
Like hindsight, perspective is something that could save us hours of stress, dilemma, and upset. Sometimes when the world feels like it’s falling down around you, days, weeks or months later you’ll realize that it was just a drop in the ocean. I’m the first to hold my hands up and admit that it is easier said than done to leave yourself for a moment, be objective and ask yourself, ‘Will this matter in a year?,’ but I’m going to make a conscious effort to do just that.
As an avid member of the ‘workaholic/must-always-be-busy’ club, I rarely take a break, and I know I’m not alone in this. The thing is, when I put this kind of behavior into perspective, it isn’t healthy. If ‘generation busy’ continue as we are, we will end up wasting our lives being ‘busy,’ never taking a breath to enjoy the moment it and burning out by the time we reach 30 years old.
Have you ever been so stressed about something that everything else in life seems completely irrelevant? You are sucked into this bubble that is draining the life from you, all because of one piece of school work which realistically will mean nothing to you a year from now. For some, passion comes with relentless hours and pressure, which can take over your life…or so it seems.
Withdraw yourself from that bubble of stress and you realize that once that piece of work is submitted, you move on to the next thing. Life continues and you will look back years from now and think how menial it is in comparison with real world worries. The grades we get? It pains me to say it but they aren’t the end of the world. We shouldn’t be letting letters restrict or define us. I’m not saying you should stop caring, because that is not the answer. Just add a splash of perspective to your recipe, and you just might feel a little better for it.
With this new-found perspective, we should aim to invest more time making a life as opposed to a living, in the New Year. Gen-Y fall victim to feeling like we must complete everything by the time we are 25 for fear of being deemed a failure. Whilst time is precious, let perspective help you realize that there is time to slow down too. Whether it’s doing your homework or falling in love – don’t rush into things, and don’t settle.
New Year’s will come and go as quickly as the resolutions we intend, and fail to keep. Perhaps this new-found perspective that we are all going to develop will make us realize that in the grand scheme of things, we should invest more time focusing on the moment as it happens, instead of making resolutions we have no intention of keeping.
Featured image via freestocks.org on Pexels
