I renounced making new year’s resolutions in 2019. This will be the third year I make myself a promise as opposed to a resolution. Resolutions tend to be superficial. And in my experience, they don’t seem to stick. If I say I’ll eat better, it works great for a few months. But I fall back into old patterns. If I say I’ll work out more, it’s the same result. When I make myself a promise, it’s something that I remind myself of when I’m having a hard day. It’s a comforting nudge, not an obligation. It’s a step in my personal evolution, my mantra.

Looking Back

Last year I promised to make my personal growth a priority. While 2020 was challenging in many ways, it provided me with the ideal opportunity to dig deep, to reflect on many of my choices, to accept myself as I am, and to grow mentally, emotionally, and physically. (Yes, I gained the quarantine 15.) I’m glad I took the time to figure out the flaws in my thinking, to change my brain’s activity with my mind.

Going Forward

Now that a new year is closely upon us, it’s time for a new promise. With the lessons I’ve learned this year, I’ve decided to promise to learn to trust myself. Trust is something that comes easily to our species. When we are born, we innately trust our caregivers. We don’t require them to earn our trust before we allow them to feed and change us. As we age, we learn to distrust others. Sometimes, we learn we’ve trusted those we shouldn’t have.

I’ve made mistakes in my past involving trust. But the biggest one was not trusting myself. Trusting others and being burned is a lesson well-learned. But not trusting myself was a more difficult loss to recover from. This year, I’ll learn that valuable lesson. I’m smart. I’m capable. And I’m strong. What’s not to trust?

As the author Santosh Kalwar is quoted as saying, “Trust yourself, you will start to trust others.” I promise myself this year I will learn to trust myself. It’s the next step in my personal evolution.