3 Tips on How to Set New Years Intentions
Fuck New Years Resolutions
Happy Fucking new year everyone and 2022! Sex therapist Jackie here, reporting from Minneapolis, Minnesota to talk to you about New Year's resolutions versus intentions. Now if you don't follow me on Instagram, go do it. @sextherapistjackie is my IG handle and you can click that link right there. If you want to follow me. I basically had a mini-rant about this already when I was previously writing a post about Fuck New Year's resolutions post here, why? I hate them. They don't work. They're insufficient and the majority of people have given up by this time in January right now. Intentions, on the other hand, that's what's up!
New Years Intentions Instead of Resolutions
As a therapist in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Language is everything to me, especially when I'm teaching clients different types of skills, unpacking shameful thought processes, or just figuring out what the fuck works for them. Resolutions are so set in stone concrete and if we don't do them, we feel fuckin shameful. Then we automatically feel like we fail, which sets us backward rather than forwards intentions when we say, “I intend to do something,” like, “I Jackie intend to write blogs this year for sex therapy in Minneapolis, Minnesota,” or I intend to start that newsletter this year to keep everyone up to date on what I'm doing in my therapy business in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Those have fewer strings attached. They're less rigid! I don't want to feel rigid with New Year's intentions and resolutions. Just do that right off the bat. So when people ask me, “Do you have any new year's resolutions?” I tell them no, I have intentions. My intentions are to do this, this, and this, and I'm going to do it really fucking well.
Here's a mini reflection of my intentions from 2021 I wanted to start my sex therapy in Minneapolis blog and create my own sex therapy in Minneapolis website. I wanted to pass my National Clinical Mental Health Counseling Exam. I wanted to meditate more and I just wanted to focus on my overall happiness first. I did all those things. I set my mind and intention on these things. And I did it I'm fucking proud of myself! I had a lot of changes in 2021 and 2020. As I'm sure many of you did as well. Being a sex therapist in Minneapolis, Minnesota, I really wanted to find myself in my professional identity and career that would really work for me the best. I had a couple of different changes in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and I'm happy that I had done all these different intentions in 2021 because it led me to open up my therapy practice in Minneapolis in October of 2021. Had I said I'm gonna do this and I'm going to do it by this date or this timeline, or I have to dedicate 10 hours a week to opening up my own business and be on my own, as a sex therapist in Minneapolis, Minnesota, I would have failed. That would have felt so restrictive that would have felt so pressured and I'm not about pressure at least not when it comes to inducing shame on ourselves, right? Fuck shame. We want to be shameless. And the way to do that is by setting intentions.
How to Set New Years Intentions
Now, here are some shameless tips on setting new year's intentions instead of resolutions and why they work.
Keep it simple, stupid, don't overcomplicate things, don't add a number to it. You add a number to something you're gonna feel like holy shit. I'm never gonna fucking accomplish this goal. An example of this might be oh, I want to go to the gym five times a week and I don't have a plan for this to work out at all in 2022. And in a pandemic, when there's a fucking virus taking over the world right now, no less. I say don't put a number to it. That number is overwhelming.
Get excited about these ideas!!!!!! Right? What are the things that these opportunities are going to open up for you with an intention? For me by starting the sex therapy blog on my own website led to me opening up my own sex therapy business in Minneapolis for example. What is the bigger picture? Right? Like you don't have to have all these little intentions written down in an Excel spreadsheet or in a journal or in a bullet journal and like how to do it and everything like that. You just need to have an intention and the plan will fall into place if you want it that bad. Remember the why behind it. As humans and as a therapist working in Minneapolis, Minnesota, I see that we overcomplicate things too much. Sometimes it's best to have this as my intention and this is the why behind it and that's it. Just knowing what you're doing and why you're doing it, in the long run, is going to help you out the most. So another example of this is I passed my license exam. Then I could apply for a license and I could become licensed and have that piece of paper to practice on my own and no longer need a supervisor. Passing the exam is the intention. The overall goal down the line is being licensed. If we don't have the small steps of intentions first, it's never going to work out. So get excited.
Keep it to a minimum of three or four intentions total. Now I know the sex therapist in Minneapolis over here had four different intentions for the new year. I also kept them open-ended. By keeping things open-ended with being happy. What does that mean? You know, for me that's going on around the lakes in the summer in Minneapolis going on nice walks, being able to get outside, taking photos of fall leaves changing, right? It's meditating it's unplugging from the goddamn screens that rule our world nowadays. It's enjoying a book, it's maybe taking myself out on a date or cooking at home for myself on a date. Keeping things open-ended and only your intentions to maybe a couple of things are really going to be something that sets you up for success in 2022.
Now, if you already have resolutions, you may or may not be sticking to them. And that's okay. That doesn't mean you can't start over. There's always been a joke that I've seen floating around that people are starting their New Year's resolutions in February. That's a pretty accurate statement because there was a statistic I read once 73% of people have already stopped a New Year's resolution by the third week of January. This was typical to exercise, health, and diet trends that are out there that I read this statistic on. Isn't that wild? I couldn't believe it myself. I understood it though. When I read this and I thought wow, people really need time at the end of the year to reflect and be excited about all the fucking goals that they accomplished and that they slayed and to then transition into a new year and figure out what does this mean for me, and what do I want this year? And how do I break this down and pieces bit by bit piece by piece? And maybe it's just I intend to do something and I'm going to do it right. I intend to work out so I'm gonna work out. If your resolution is working out five days a week, it's not going to happen. That feels like it sets us up for failure already. So these are my tips for New Year's intentions instead of resolutions from sex therapist Jackie coming in from Minneapolis, Minnesota. I hope you enjoyed these and I hope they were helpful. If you know of anybody that is seeking out therapy feel free to give them this information on my blog or also share this with someone who could find this New Year's intentions 2022 pretty damn helpful!
If you know of anyone that is seeking Sex Therapy Services in Minneapolis, Minnesota, feel free to pass along this information to them today! If you are seeking help with sex therapy, couples therapy, self-esteem, LGBTQIA+ & Gender-Affirming care, or anxiety, you can read more about how I can help by clicking here! If you are a therapist seeking consultation on any of these topics or want to know what it takes to open your open private practice then click here for more information on how I can help you today!
Stay Shameless
