Why You Don’t Need A New You This Year

We’ve all seen the slogan “New Year, New You” all over the internet. The sentiment sounds nice, encouraging you to overhaul your entire life overnight in order to be a success in the new year. This is your new fresh start and changing yourself is the only way.

But, what was wrong with the you on December 31^st? Yeah okay so maybe you overindulged on the sweets these last few weeks or had more than one holiday dinner where you ate to the point of needing to wear stretchy pants to feel comfortable or breathe. Maybe you haven’t eaten “healthy” since Thanksgiving or beyond that. Maybe you had a few cocktails or a lot of glasses of wine while celebrating with friends and family. Maybe you didn’t hit the gym as much as usual or maybe you didn’t even go at all. Maybe you overspent and now must pinch every penny to get by until your next paycheck. Maybe you weren’t in the most festive spirit you could have been because the holidays aren’t all that great for many of us.  You know what? I think it is safe to say that you were not alone. Why should we feel the need to overhaul our entire life because of these supposed indiscretions that took place over the last few months or even the last year? I think your December 31^st self is pretty great!

Let’s focus on being kinder to ourselves and accepting ourselves as we are flaws and all. We get so stuck in this all or nothing mindset like we HAVE to change EVERYTHING overnight and that is just simply not sustainable. I am so guilty of this too, trying to make changes to every aspect of my life all at once. I have been hard on myself for so many years and admittedly it has become beyond exhausting and demotivating. Sometimes I can be downright cruel to the woman that is staring back at me in the mirror. Sitting there beating myself up over what I haven’t achieved or what I have put in my mouth that day or how many times I worked out last week is so demoralizing! AND I AM DOING THIS TO MYSELF?!

Instead of thinking about everything that we haven’t achieved, let’s start telling ourselves the story of all the things we HAVE achieved in the last year. Instead of feeling down on ourselves about how many times we worked out last week, let’s praise ourselves about how many times we worked out last week or how great we felt after giving our bodies time to rest. Let’s flip the script and silence that negative narrative that I know runs through our head. Think about changing your mindset like exercising your muscles. Working on mindfulness slowly and consistently is where the magic happens, and you will start seeing the results you desire.

I encourage you not to seek out a whole new you this year but to embrace the you that you are right now! You are NOT defined by a number on the scale, how many books you read last year, how many food groups you cut out of your diet, how often you exercised, how early you get up, how organized your house is, how perfect your morning and evening routines are, or even how many times you had “self control” around those cookies your co-worker brought in. Give yourself some slack and remember that habits take time to change and you cannot change everything overnight and expect it to last. Keep on doing you and being your wonderful self! Everyday is a new day to try and make things happen for yourself. Start small and have patience and see what kind of beautiful life you can make by just believing in yourself and having grace when things don’t work out exactly like you planned. Get up the next day and dust yourself off and start again.

This is a reminder not only to you but to myself. I choose to focus on compassion and trying my best and remembering that my best is good enough. I am good enough. Here’s to 2020, the start of a new decade full of successes as well as failures that give me an opportunity to learn from them. A new decade of learning to make peace with food, exercise and also with my body. A new decade of learning to love myself fully and also acknowledging that there will be days when I don’t like myself too.

You don’t need a new you, you are already great as you are!