Making a Purposeful New Year's Resolution: 4 Easy Steps

We can’t believe that 2022 is almost upon us! You know what that means, right? Cue tons of people starting diets and buying gym memberships! Yup, it’s time for that New Year’s Resolution…

Seriously, though. According to the American Psychological Association, about 93% of people surveyed report making a New Year’s Resolution. These were mostly tied to living a healthier and more financially stable lifestyle. Of course, 45% of people report giving up on these resolutions by February!

So, what is the problem here? Why can’t we stick to our resolutions? Well, I’ll give you one possible explanation and our suggested solution!

Solving the New Year’s Resolution Problem

The Explanation: We keep making goals that don’t align with our true values!

When we make resolutions to lose weight or save money, we have to ask ourselves why. Why is this a goal that is important to me? Is this a goal that is aligned with my values?

Am I losing weight or going to the gym because I want to be thin/pretty/defined/etc? Or am I making this goal for myself because I know I need to care for my own health before I can accomplish other important goals in my life?

Am I saving money so I can buy more things or “keep up with the Jones’s”? Or am I budgeting so I can give myself or my children the lifechanging experience of travel?

The Solution: If we want to make a New Year’s Resolution for 2022 that we will actually stick with, one that will make us feel motivated and accomplished, we need to make goals that are driven by our core values.

But how do we make value driven resolutions?

Value Driven New Year’s Resolution

Well, that’s simple! Tie your resolutions to who you are, what you value, and what kind of life you want to lead.

Here at Novel Excursion, and in this amazing community that you are helping us to build, our goals tend to be much bigger than simply making our own lives more pleasant. Everything we do is in pursuit of our one big goal: to make the world a better place!

For us, that is by traveling to learn and traveling to serve.

Our resolutions for 2022 will be in line with this goal!

But, before we dive into our New Year’s Resolutions, we first need to take a look at what we have accomplished this year that has helped us move forward in this mission.

2021 Recap!

This year we have donated supplies to two organizations while traveling: The Native American Youth and Family Center in Portland, Oregon, and the Wildlife Sanctuary of Northwest Florida.

While at our home base in Texas, we also began minimizing our material possessions and encouraging our family to do the same. Because of this, we were able to donate hundreds of items to two amazing local organizations: The Haven for Hope Homeless Shelter and the Center for Refugee Services.

Through our Cause of the Month, we have supported several nonprofits working hard to make the world a better place: the Family Equality Council, Native American Youth and Family Center, Child Fund International, the Children’s Chorus of San Antonio, the South Alamo Regional Alliance for the Homeless (SARAH), and Feed the Children.

We held an event in November with our partner, Martie McNabb, from Show and Tales to raise money for SARAH. This was an awesome experience, and we can’t wait to do another.

We are also so excited to host our 1^st Annual Caring Humans Concert tonight, December 21^st @ 6pm CST, in support of Feed the Children!

On the home front, we are also doing our best to improve ourselves, do some good in the world, and teach our children the value of travel, education, and service. As a family, we spend almost every Saturday working with rescued horses at Wings and Reins Equine Refuge. Amanda, Michael, and Sarah are all continuing their education. And even little Adrian is doing his part to help in two big ways: using cloth diapers and learning how to communicate!

So, now that we know where we’ve been this year, we’ve got a good idea of where we need to go!

Looking forward to 2022!

This coming year, our biggest resolution for Novel Excursion is to keep up this momentum! Here is how we will do that:

We are going to continue donating 10% of all monthly profits to a Cause of the Month.
We will keep planning events that directly benefit nonprofits. These will include a continuing partnership with Show and Tales, the 2^nd Annual Caring Humans Concert, Feed the Children, SARAH, Nomads Giving Back, and more surprises to come!
We will keep minimizing and will donate what we no longer need to homeless shelters and refugee organizations.
We’ll continue to bring you lots of travel, education, and service-related content both here and across all our social media platforms!

Traveling New Year’s Resolution

For all of you awesome world travelers out there, we are planning two big events! First, we will be hosting private tours for anyone who wants to experience San Antonio’s famous Fiesta celebration! (More information to come)

And we are super excited to announce a month-long trip to Mexico this coming year! We will be immersing ourselves in history and culture and bringing you all the best information for an exciting and enriching trip to this wonderful country. We will culminate our Mexico trip in a service event that will benefit the local community, and all of you are invited to join us on this adventure!

Education & Service New Year’s Resolution

We will continue to learn and grow as individuals and as a family. Michael will be completing his master’s in international relations, publishing his first fiction novel (Keeper 829), and working on his second novel. Amanda will continue her degree in anthropology and nonprofit management, and she is also working on her Yoga Teacher Certification.

Sarah will be finishing out 3^rd grade and moving on to 4^th grade and will continue with her piano, singing, and Spanish lessons. And Adrian will keep learning to speak and to sign! He’s already mastered “please” and “thank you” so we are very proud parents!

Additionally, we will keep volunteering with Wings and Reins as well as trying to fit in a monthly volunteer session with the local Food Bank.

Setting Your Own Purposeful New Year’s Resolution

Here is your Novel Excursion Resolution Setting Guide for 2022:

Identify your core values and think about what gives your life meaning.
Reflect on where you’ve been in 2021.
Decide what you want your life to look like in a year.
Make resolutions (set goals) that will get you there!

Challenge for you!

Here is our challenge to you.

Throughout this year, when you make steps toward your goals, share it with us on social media! You can post it in our Facebook group or simply use #novelresolution. Follow this hashtag to see our own progress!

From our family to yours, we wish you all the best in 2022!

-Amanda

~ Change the world one nameless stranger at a time. ~

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