Emily Esfahani Smith

So I think, so yeah, the idea of resolutions, I personally, I like the idea of resolutions if they're done

you know, I think the right way, I guess you could say a lot of times, you know, we, we do resolutions that are focused on these really discreet goals, like, you know, lose 10 pounds by, you know, such and such a date or things like this, you know, and I think that if we, you know, especially tying it into meaning, if we can think about

what it is that we value that's underneath that resolution, like health or connection.

And then maybe framing the resolution in more broad terms than, you know, that specific discrete goal.

I think it'll be, it'll make it more consistent with living a meaningful life and less kind of frustrating.

Well, let's say more kind of expansive to pursue.

if one of your goals is to say, be better at responding to your friend's text messages.

Well, underneath that maybe is a yearning to be more connected to the people that you love.

And so, if you think of it that way, then there are a lot of different ways that you can achieve that particular goal or value to be connected.

It doesn't just have to be about responding to text messages.

So I like to kind of think about, you know, what's the value?

What is it really that you're yearning for underneath?

And can you frame the resolution in that sense?

In terms of kind of thinking about, you know, achievement and goals, goals are things that we can, you know, accomplish.

They're, you know, discrete, they're measurable, and it's really important to have goals, obviously.

But when it comes to meaning, you know, we're thinking about

more like in terms of principles and values and purpose something that we're always working towards not something that we you know just accomplish and then you know once we've accomplished it that the meaning goes away we want something that we're kind of constantly working towards

Well, I remember, you know, when I was first kind of engaging with these topics that I think it was actually around around the new year, you know, several years ago now.

But there was so much kind of in the media and social, you know, and

in the press, on social media about resolutions and happiness, like five ways to have a happier new year.