Making 2023 a Year of Improved Change

By. Craig Perrier

The start of a new year, or semester, is a great time to start a new practice. One I plan to do involves a video journal app a friend shared with me.  The app captures a moment of your life, one second to be exact, every day, and compiles them into a video.  The result is a video collage of your life.  I plan to also use it to reflect on how I am spending my time and what I am choosing to focus on for that day. Sounds great, doesn’t it?  

Remembering to do this each day will be, I predict, the hardest part of this new year resolution.  Other questions arise too around this practice.  For example, does this idea become a failure if I miss a day? What if I can’t remember where the locations were in the videos or who some of the people were?  If either of these things happen, don’t they prove that the just the idea of making a resolution itself it a futile venture? These are good questions to answer.  My conclusion is that, in this case, missing a day or memory lapses are not reasons to reject resolution making.  Not making them, on the contrary, is a rejection of what makes us humans – that is the power to change and give meaning to life’s events. 

Moreover, making changes in tandem with others is another valuable (and fun) element to this practice.  For example, I share my video journal idea with a few friends and my sister. Similarly, when we build in progress rewards or self-praise to our changes in lifestyle or practices is another valuable (and fun) element. To that end, the Educator Marketplace has tantalizing deals to mark your success.  The list below, organized by resolution type, is a wonderful place to begin or continue planning for your celebrations.

• Fitness and the Outdoors: Probably the most common resolution, improving your health through exercise is more fun with the deals here.  I just bough new hiking boots!
  
• Home and Garden: Ready to put your green thumb to use or make good on those DIY projects?  These deals will inspire you to “get it done!”
  
• Entertainment: Don’t put off that book you have been wanting to read or movie you wanted to see.  These deals with help manage your “to do” list with a smile.
  
• Automotive and Transportation: Drive, fly, and vacation smoothly in 2023 with these deals no matter where you are or where you are going.
  
• Arts and Crafts: Indulge your creative side with dozens of deals for the artist in you!
  
• Technology: Is this the year you upgrade your digital footprint?  All the hardware and software you need is here!

As you begin 2023 and are starting to try out your resolutions, I am happy to share a saying I love “Don’t count the days. Make the days count.”  Centering this reminder in my life has brought valuable perspective and focus to my personal and professional lives.  I wish you success with your life changes and only the best in 2023.