I always find this time of year pretty strange. It's the closing of one chapter and the opening of another. All the emphasis is on the word new. New diet, new hobbies, new start. On paper it sounds great and full of positivity. I'm just not convinced it's that helpful.
Something I have discovered over the years is that if you are going to make a change, you need to be ready. I don't mean wearing the right workout gear or paying for a new subscription or even just booking a counselling appointment. I mean being ready deep down in your soul and knowing without a shadow of a doubt that it's the right time. Even then the motivation often quickly fades and you need to be dedicated to making things happen when it does. It means going to the gym on days you can't be bothered, attending your new class when you're really tired, or consistently going to counselling sessions when what you are talking about is really difficult.
If we go by societal norms, this is exactly the time of year to make those changes. But what if you're just not ready? What if you are part way there but not quite? What if you just need a bit more time to prepare yourself? If that's the case, please don't push yourself to start yet. In a couple of weeks when you give up your resolution, you will just feel so much worse.
Don't start anything on January 1st and don't ever start something on a Monday. Psychologically, if we don't keep something new up after starting on a Monday, we quickly put it off again until next Monday so we can do a whole week.
Start on whichever day you wake up and really feel it. Start on a random date and a random day. Ignore what everyone else is saying and doing. At this time of year you will be constantly comparing everyone else and their own resolution journey. They may even be plastering it all over social media for you to judge yourself against. Look at them getting up at 5am every morning in the dark and cold to jog! Look at their new job and big new house! Excellent, that's great for them. Now put the phone down and leave them to it, Quietly start at your own pace and win your own race against yourself in your own time.
Here's my most important message for the New Year...
You are good enough right now.
Not when you are thinner, cleverer, when you earn more, find a relationship or practice harder. Not when you get a promotion, gain more online followers or when your child wins a medal.
Not when you have more friends, buy the latest phone or get the highest marks in the class.
Yes, you have many things you want to achieve in your life. When the time is right and you are completely ready to make a change, you will get what you want and do everything you've dreamed of. But in the meantime, don't attach your worth to what you have or haven't yet achieved. You are already good enough and anything else will just be an added bonus.
It's not New Year, New you. It's New Year, Same You.
Lauren x