Ditch new year's resolutions and give every new year a practical theme to chase instead

• Thobekile Masombuka speaks about her practical approach to the start of a new year.
• Each year she would write down a list of things that she promised herself she’d do but now she does things a little differently.
• You also have the option to choose the things that will challenge and grow you for the better; and have a fun, fruitful, resolutionary year!

I never really went out much as a teen, so I always had ample time to think about my life and what I wanted of it. 

In Grade 11, I decided to write down New Year’s resolutions as I had a habit of doing every year.

Each year I would write down a list of things that I promised myself I’d do but then somewhere in the course of the year, that list would get lost and with it, the fiery will and determination I had when I compiled the list. 

Sound familiar?

This time, though, nearing the end of 2012, I believed that my determination would be different. Why? Because I told myself that if the Mayans turned out to be wrong about the world ending (I didn’t want it to end just yet), I would show my gratitude by actually doing the things I promised to do. 

2013 came and I didn’t do most of what I had written down – no surprise there. 

For years after, I stopped bothering with resolutions because I eventually got honest with myself and knew that no matter how long and detailed the list was, and no matter how many books I scribbled it in with coloured felt-tip pens, I never actually did any of the things I wished to do. 

There was nothing wrong with this: I know myself to be a person who doesn’t work very well with loosely written to-do lists, especially when there is no real urgency to the task or a consequence that awaits should I fail to complete it. 

And then in 2017, I completed my honours degree.

This year was to be the one time that I would study exactly what I wanted and, for the first time in my whole life as a student, it was the course that I gave my all to. 

READ MORE | What's in store for you this year?

After facing a rejection scare and actually getting accepted, I felt grateful and in my gratitude and excitement, I told myself that 2017 would be my year of firsts, paying homage to the fact that I would be pursuing the first year as a postgraduate student in a field I was incredibly passionate about. 

Two weeks or so after declaring that theme to myself, one of my brothers announced that we should make a trip to the beach in Durban. I had never been to the beach, and in January 2017, I went there for the first time. 

As the year went on, whenever I came across something I had never done before, I dared myself to try it (I was obviously selective about what I tried because becoming a drug addict is nothing anyone aspires to). 

Some things were as big as organising a camp weekend for the youth group at church and others as small as trying sushi and yoga.

This did more for me than creating memories and experiences I would have otherwise missed for lack of courage and sense of adventure. I grew so much as an individual; and because of this I carried the theme over to 2018. 

READ MORE | What exactly is dry January?

In speaking publicly for the first time, I became more confident. In trying makeup for the first time, I overcame my fear of standing out. In going on a hot air balloon ride for the first time, I was opened to a world I never knew existed for me. 

In daring myself to try things for the first time, I ended up challenging myself in ways that a list of dos and don'ts could never have possibly accomplished for me. 

This, of course, is personal, and no one formula can work for everyone; but if you’ve been struggling to keep to your resolutions, why not try a different approach?