Do you make New Year’s resolutions? Do they look something like this? Quit this… Stop that… Start here.
Resolutions tend to be orders to ourselves about things we already realize need work. Why are we always stating the obvious? Is it just the illusion of bettering ourselves that is appealing, or does anyone really reach their intended goal? Maybe for the first couple of weeks of the new year, but then excuses creep into play and we are back to our old ways. It also seems the only resolutions we have a hard time sticking with are those that affect ourselves.
In most scholarly definitions you find the word ‘resolution’ as being connected to absolutes, meaning no room for growth. Life is biologically, evolutionary, and cognitively structured toward growth, so we are heading toward failure when making resolutions.
But there is hope when you dive into the Latin origin of the word. Resolution derives from ‘resolutionem’ which means the process of reducing things into simpler forms. If we can reduce our resolutions down to the simplest form, we are more likely to see results!
Of course, the end goal is significant because otherwise the resolution wouldn’t exist, but if you don’t know how to achieve the goal, it’s pointless. Changing our resolutions to HOW instead of WHAT would yield better results. It’s creating little changes, simple attainable actions.
At the YWCA Northwestern Illinois we are here to assist you with your HOW’S. Contact our office at 815-968-9681 or visit our website ywcanwil.org for information on how to:
- Become a licensed child care provider
- Find child care
- Gain assistance with paying for child care
- Gain literacy instruction and English language support
- Connect with immigration services
- Obtain public aid services and resources
- Begin the process of getting into the Early Childhood Education field
- Improve the quality of your program/business
- Increase your professional development
At the start of each new year, we should embrace and strive toward the HOW by taking our resolutions and turning them into aspirations. Happy New Year!
– Stephanie Koclanis M.S., CORE Supervisor YWCA Northwestern Illinois Child Care Solutions
