Thursday, 31 December 2015

My Romeo Project Resolutions

The Romeo Project, a 10 month life re-design will be guided by my Ten New Year’s Resolutions.
Finding a place to start for any self-improvement project is the hardest part, so for The Romeo Project I’ve been reading around the subject of happiness and self-improvement for the past few months.

In the texts (you can check them all out so far here) there were a lot of common themes. Whether it's books about Happiness, Managing Depression, or why your Twenties matter these were the sort of themes that emerged – living with authenticity, self-belief, stop saying ‘if only’, de-clutter, don’t expect praise or appreciation, appreciate the little things, practice mindfulness…

The Ten Resolutions I've picked combine a number of the recurring themes from the self-help literature. But they also were the themes that felt relevant to me. My Ten Resolutions allow me to explore recovery as much as happiness. It was important for me to find a balance between pursuing happiness and learning to move out of the shadow of my depression, and I think these Resolutions achieve this.

The Resolutions will guide me for the year, and each month I’ll examine one resolution in depth with a series of tasks built around that resolution.

Take a look at the breakdown of my year below:



January – Be Authentic
Evaluating who I am as a person and as a blogger as I make my Life Handbook.

February – Self Care is Not Selfish
Practising self care to build up my defenses will help me throughout the year in times of need.

March – Embrace your Past 
In order to move forward it’s important to admit where you’ve come from.

April – Be Free 
Free yourself from any fears, the past, and my often neurotic schedule.

May – Don’t Rush
Be happy with where you are now.

June – Appreciate the Journey
Living in the present and appreciating the little things.

July – Accept Responsibility
My life is in my own hands and I can create my own destiny.

August – Don’t Feed the Negativity  
Looking at CBT and rational thinking, all in an effort to tackle my negative thinking.

September – Create New Things
Whether it’s creating physical things or memories, I want to embrace my creative side.

October – Believe in Yourself
Taking steps towards fulfilling my goals and wishes.

November will be a month of Reflection. I'll be looking at how well the project has been going and what's worked, as well as continuing to live by my resolutions.

December will focus on building new resolutions for the next year. Taking what I've learned over the ten months of tasks and what emerged from November's reflections, I'll be plotting out how to bring The Romeo Project into 2017.

Phew! It's definitely going to be a busy year ahead. But I'm taking it one month at a time. And first up is Be Authentic, perhaps one of the vaguest but most overused words when it comes to self-help literature. I'm going to be figuring out my values, my goals and dreams and using these to create a Life Handbook and a Vision Board. Perfect for the first month of The Romeo Project!

What are your New Year's Resolutions?

18 comments:

  1. This is a brilliant list, I am interested to find out more about your Life Handbook. I am also guilty of not appreciating the present enough and often working towards something in the future, so I can really relate to June. I hope you have a good New Year this is definitely something to look forward to achieving x

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    1. Thank you! I'm finding the Life Handbook difficult atm, but I'm hoping to make some sense of it before I post about it next week :) x

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  2. I LOVE this! What a great idea, selecting something every month. I find the new year a little overwhelming at times. I am looking after myself too next year, starting a Magical Year journal journey :) Happy New Year. Kaz x

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    1. OOH your journal sounds fab. Can't wait to read about it. Thanks Kaz xx

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  3. Thank you for sharing this. I am pinning as a reminder of what I need my new year to be.

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    1. Aw thank you Vai Chin. Glad you like it :) x

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  4. These look like great things to focus on next year! I would like to slow down and appreciate life more - especially as my kids seem to be getting big so fast!

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  5. I love this list! I'm not big on resolutions but this is a great way to improve yourself over the course of the year. I wish you all the best. Happy New Year!!

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  6. I think this Romeo project will definitely have a positive impact on you and give everyone (not only those with depression) motivation to do something with their lives. I am anti resolutions as I end up not doing them so this for me is goals.

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    1. Great way to put it Miranda. I'm not normally one for resolutions myself, but with the new year the word just seemed to fit :) x

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  7. I love this! I hope you achieve all of them :) Happy new year! x

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  8. April sounds like my favourite. I want to be able to not fear the past and use it as a benchmark for how much I have achieved and the person I have become.

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    1. Absolutely Ana, that's a great message and way to live.

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  9. The simple things in life really matter

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  10. What a great list. This will be a great year!

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