What if you could start off the new year feeling like you are enough already?
What if you realized that there's no need for a new diet, a new workout plan, or any other body-shrinking strategy?
The idea that we can start off a new year being satisfied with ourselves is a radical one because we’ve been made to believe that we're not enough and that we should constantly search outside of ourselves for worthiness and validation.
Starting today, the "New Year, New You" posts and emails will come raining down on your head like confetti in Times Square. They’re designed to remind you that the old you (ie. the December 31st version of you) was broken and now needs to be repaired...yet again. The new year is the green light for you to get ready to spend the next 12 months + a lot of money and emotional energy in pursuit of something that you set out to get last year and the year before that and the year before that…
It's all an illusion...a big lie that's been told and sold to us again and again.
In our attempts to shrink and trim ourselves down to feel like "enough" we risk losing our identity and sense of self. We try to squeeze ourselves into a box that was built by someone else, for someone else. It's suffocating and uncomfortable, but we twist and turn and remove pieces of ourselves so that we can fit. We do it so much that this box suddenly feels like this is where we were meant to be.
It happens so quickly, you don't even realize that your leg is now wrapped around your neck.
I don’t want this for you, for me, or anyone else.
If you’re looking for something else to focus your time and energy on, I want to offer you these reflective questions for writing or conversation with friends:
What if you realized that you don't need to fix anything about yourself?
What would you do?
How would you feel?
Where would you go?
Who would have the pleasure of spending time with you?
What conversations would you have with your friends? With yourself?
In 2020, may your desires feel more like your own and less like requirements for worthiness. In this year and all the years to come, I hope you learn to see the beauty of your human-ness outside of a dress size or number on the scale.
Happy New Year!
