Looking 4 a New Year’s Resolution? Here’s 1 That’s Easy but Scary!

“Do one thing every day that scares you.”  -Eleanor Roosevelt

Do you have a New Year’s resolution? I actually think it’s fine if you don’t. I mean really, we are always changing, evolving and pursuing our goals…January 1st just gives us a nice clean start date on which to do so. But, around December 30th, the pressure mounts to bravely state your intended resolution for the year.

If you’re still looking for something to resolve to do and you want to move past some of the usual suspects like losing weight and exercising more (both admirable pursuits), why not try something that requires you to be a little more brave? It’s actually a pretty simple concept but it’s pretty scary to actually do but here it is: “Do one thing every day that scares you.”

This doesn’t mean you need to go skydiving (but if that scares you and you have the opportunity one random day, go for it – you are braver than I!) It does mean, however, that you should take chances and push yourself out of your comfort zone a bit.

For example, it’s easy to just walk through life with your head down, eyes focused on your smart phone and not making eye contact with anyone. Eye contact can be a little scary though right? All of a sudden, you’re face to face with someone with their humanity (and your own) staring you back in your face. So why not make that the scary thing you do one day? Just make eye contact and smile. Why is this scary? It’s scary because it makes us vulnerable (What if they don’t smile back? What if they think I’m just some random smiling creepy weirdo?). We’re basically putting ourselves out there and it’s quite possible our smile or acknowledgment might not be returned. Scary right? But what happens if you do get a smile back? Or if you actually connect with someone for just a quick moment? You’ll feel happier and so will they, all because you took a chance and smiled.

Doing something scary doesn’t have to be a big deal. Just push yourself out of your comfort zone a bit. Have a difficult conversation. Try a food you’ve never had before. Listen to some music you have previously declared to despise. These aren’t big scary things but they are icky feeling and scary enough that we still usually don’t do them.

Resolve to scare yourself a bit this year. You’ll be amazed how your world opens up to meet you.