2021 will soon be upon us and, unsurprisingly, they’ll be a flurry of New Year resolutions shared.  We’ll make promises to ourselves to live healthier and happier lives, maybe joining a gym or buying a juicer to help motivate us in to action.

You may not have considered that personal growth and self-development are important for your wellbeing, but setting goals helps give us purpose and direction.  And hope for the future.

 2020, more than any other year in recent history, has likely derailed many plans or goals you aimed to achieve.  You may be tempted to just give up particularly if your underlying emotions have taken a body blow this year (which, by the way, is perfectly reasonable).

I suspect this won’t be the first time that life has thrown you a curve ball or you’ve faced obstacles or unexpected challenges.  You’ve probably bounced back quickly before, returning to ‘normal’ or a ‘new normal’ depending on what you’ve experienced. 

So, you already know that you have the capacity to recover quickly from life’s challenges and difficulties.  Rather than give up or give in, you have the ability to emerge from recent experiences and restore your mental and emotional fitness.

By taking control of your self-development, you continue to foster your emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and coping strategies.  This will have a direct and positive impact on your resilience levels, building it back up.

As we head toward the end of 2020, now may be a good time to reflect on what you have learnt about yourself this year, what has worked well, what you might do differently - what will you keep doing, or do more of, what might you change or adapt.

Re-evaluating what success looks like may be important too.  Previous markers of achievement you set yourself may need adjusting.

Focusing on your personal growth and self-development leads to healthy and supportive relationships, reduces stress and improves wellbeing; you’re more productive and in control.  By creating this environment for yourself means success is more likely to occur and you’ll not only achieve your goals, you’ll feel more content and calm as a result.

In summary, by taking the time to work on your personal development, you are decreasing the negative impacts of stress and ill-health, and you are increasing your ability to handle your life and relationships.  Now that’s a New Year resolution worth making.