New Year. new you? no thanks!
I’ll be honest - I’m not a big fan of New Years. There always seems to be this unspoken pressure to GO BIG! Have FUN! Party till dawn! And the resolutions – ohhhh the resolutions. A quick Google search reports the Top 10 new year resolutions are:
Exercise more
Lose weight
Get organized
Learn a new skill or hobby
Live life to the fullest
Save more money / spend less money
Quit smoking
Spend more time with family and friends
Travel more
Read more
When I look at this list, I see grandiose goals and unrealistic expectations (#5 anyone? What does that even mean?). If one was to accomplish them all – would you be a fulfilled human being? If that’s what we are all striving for, you might have to dig a little deeper than this list and it doesn’t have to be in the form of a resolution as we flip the calendar.
I discourage you from making any of those resolutions this year. In these turbulent times, aren’t we all just doing the best we can? If anything, make a promise to be kinder to yourself. More forgiving. More understanding. And likewise, to the people around you. Therapists like to talk a lot about mindfulness. It can be a concept that is hard to grasp, but one I hope you might be interested in and if anything, resolve to try and practice. Mindfulness is like a muscle, it has to be worked at in order to improve, to be able to bring yourself back to your body and be present in the moment. This can be as simple as just noticing how your clothes feel on your body to more complicated things like understanding what you are really feeling in your mind and heart.
One of my favorite quotes, that I feel sums up mindfulness perfectly goes like this: “Mindfulness is simply being aware of what is happening right now without wishing it were different; enjoying the pleasant without holding on when it changes (which it will); being with the unpleasant without feeling it will always be this way (which it won’t).” -James Baraz
So skip numbers 1-10 and just hang tight with yourself for awhile. Be present – for yourself.
Happy New Year to you from Blue Tree. We’ll probably all be in bed by 8PM tonight 😉
