Your New Year’s Resolution: What Do You Really Want?

Even though we have a month left until New Year’s resolution time, I have a question for you…

How do you feel when you think about making one?

Excited for new beginnings? New challenges and opportunities for growth?

Or do you feel dread, stress and heavy under the weight of “shoulds” ?

Are You a New Year’s Resolution Person?

Usually it’s one of the two… either you’re a “resolution” person or definitely not!

Why is that? 

Part of it could be that we often base our resolutions on what we think we should do,

rather than asking ourselves

“What do I want to do?

I’ve started phrasing my resolutions as “I want to…”

Rather than “I need to..”

Or “I should…:

And I’ve found it changes things.

So whether you’re a resolution person or not, this upcoming new year I’m asking…

What do you WANT to do?

What Happened When I Chose a New Year’s Resolution I Really Wanted

During medical school and residency, I watched Trading Spaces and other design shows on HGTV all the time and soooooo wanted to be able to do what they did! Throughout residency and fellowship I worked on our home, trying out different things to see what worked and what didn’t.

Of course, every time I allowed myself to dream big… to consider taking design classes or getting my design degree, I immediately started second guessing myself.  It felt scary.

Medicine was my comfort zone.  Was it totally ridiculous to consider something else, even just as a hobby?

Thankfully, I was able to push through all of that self doubt and mom guilt (I should be spending this time with my kids! – sound familiar?)  and bet on myself anyway.

I wanted to learn interior design, so I made a resolution that I would.

My New Year’s Resolution Journey

So now, at the risk of embarrassing myself, I’m sharing a pictorial journey of how I learned design.

What I thought then: The bold red chair/ottoman is fun and interesting. I liked the wood inlay on the armoire and the simples lines of everything.

What I think now: Just because I liked each piece individually, doesn’t mean it will all work together. None of these pieces work together. The scale of the slipper chair and yellow table (ugh!) is off and the red chair/ottoman is obnoxious.

What I thought then: I like the color of the walls and bedding trim. I wanted a light, open, relaxing feel.

What I think now: The nightstands are way too dark and heavy for the space. The lamps are just ugly, dated and too skinny. The drapes are wrinkled and don’t hang well. The bed needs accent pillows.

What I thought then: I wanted to decorate within the context of a historic home, using antiques and traditional patterns.

What I think now: I see improvement here in my use of scale and proportion, although now I see the coffee table is a bit too wimpy. I also see improvement in selecting pieces that work well together, rather than trying to just randomly combine individual pieces that I liked. Although I was trying to stay true to the character of the house, I see now that this was way too literal, and I could have implemented it in a fresher way, without it looking like I stepped back in time when walking into the room.

What I thought then: I liked my furniture placement, use of scale and proportion and the colors all worked well together. At the time, I saw things I wanted to change, but needed to implement these slowly since we had just moved.

What I think now: Although I had made significant progress in furniture placement, scale and proportion, I still think this looks dated and too heavy… From a pure design standpoint, there isn’t anything specifically wrong… but I needed time to really develop my own style in a fresh way.

Where I am Now: Eleven Years Later

So now that you’ve seen a few snippets from my design journey… here’s where I am now.

If I Did It, So Can You… If You WANT To!

As you see, I didn’t start out with a lot of natural ability.  I have a creative, artistic mind (whole brain dominant on the right)… but when it came to decorating and design… well.. I think those early photos speak for themselves. (yikes!).

I learned design over time.  And if you have that same desire to learn like I did… if you WANT it to be your resolution you can do it too. 

I can teach you.  

That’s exactly why I created my signature course for women physicians, Design Academy.  

I can teach you how to see and think like a designer, so that you can feel confident designing your own home.  You can enjoy the process, feel proud of your work, and then kick back in your favorite spot and enjoy your treasured moments at home with those you love most. 

Enrollment starts in January so click here to get on the waiting list!