Modern Mama

The beginning of a New Year is always a refreshing time. Launching from cheerful holiday festivities into dreamily planning all the great things I am going to do and be the moment the ball drops on January 1st. Unfortunately I have a terrible track record of actually keeping any of the many thoughtful and thoroughly planned New Years Resolutions I have come up with over the years. While I would like to blame it on being a February Baby (who can possibly maintain good habits when celebrating another year around the sun so soon after the New Year) but I don’t think I’m the only one.

So what will make this year different than any of those other years? Simply I am not making any resolutions this year. No SMART goals carefully planned out to maximize tracking and clear understandings of success or failure. No singular focus on one goal for a whole year. That being said I am still planning on getting better this year, but instead of identifying a resolution or list of goals I came up with a New Years Motive. So what’s the difference? A resolution is defined as “a firm decision to do or not do something” while a motive is “a reason for doing something, especially one that is hidden or not obvious”.

I think I have not had the success I wanted with my resolutions based on the rigidity of the word and the unmovable standard for success or failure. Ultimately I didn’t allow myself the room for failure which in a 12 month period of time is bound to happen to everyone, and once I felt like I failed it always became a lot harder for me to continue so I would usually give up (I’m a bit embarrassed to admit most years I gave up well before summer even started). So this year I am working on giving myself more grace and the opportunity to revisit my motive for doing better each and every day. A fresh start not just on January 1st but every day of 2026.

Since this was something very new to me the first thing I had to look into was what are some motives that I can pick from so I did some research and really liked the following list.

• Achievement
• Affiliation (group relationships)
• Intrinsic (sheer joy of doing something)
• Power (control/influence)
• Avoidance (stay away from negative influence/outcomes)
• Recognition (social status)
• Curiosity
• Safety and Security
• Competence (increase proficiency)
• Self-Esteem (grow confidence)
• Altruistic
• Adventure
• Mastery (master a skill)
• Growth (personal improvement)
• Financial
• Health
• Social (companionship)
• Autonomy

So what did I end up picking for my first New Year’s Motive? After a lot of internal debate since I gravitate to a few on this list I ended up focusing in on Curiosity. With a little one running around wanting to explore the world and do new things I want to join her in not being so stringent all the time and really look at this year with new lenses. I want to go after different goals because I’m curious to see how it will end or see if I’m any good at it. I can pick something new everyday or pick something up that lasts a month or the whole year. My year is now an open book, and I’m going to make sure I am exploring, learning, and gaining new knowledge and experiences every day (or almost every day) along the way.

So Happy New Year and whether you go with a resolution, a motive, a mantra, or something totally different I would love to hear what 2026 looks like for you. Also if you are curious how my New Year’s Motive goes please subscribe and stay up to date on all of our crazy new adventures.