In case you hadn't noticed, New Year's resolution season is in full swing for a LOT of people. I'm not one of them because I gave up resolutions a looooong time ago.
I don't have anything against them, it's just that making resolutions never felt good to me. I only did it because I thought I was supposed to...everyone else was doing it.
And like everyone else, my resolutions were mostly about losing weight. Every year I was committed to losing the most amount of weight in the shortest period of time, by any means necessary.
Every single year, the promise I made to myself in January was broken by mid-February.
I know there are millions of people, especially women, who start off the new year the same way. They'll think "THIS time it'll be different." But chances are, it's going to be the same ol' thing.
I've always looked at the new year as a time to fix what was wrong with me. It was a time to finally solve my "weight problem" and correct other flaws that supposedly kept me from living my best life.
Now I know it's all a massive waste of time, money and emotional energy.
I'm a firm believer that dieting and the constant pursuit of weight loss takes a toll on our humanity. It's difficult to connect to your alive-ness when you're constantly being asked to deny it, fear it, or override it.
If you feel the same way, here's a challenge for you:
Instead of going on a wild-goose chase that leads to the same dead end you've seen a thousand times before, explore and learn something new about yourself.
Here's why I'm suggesting this:
In all of your attempts to lose pounds, inches, and dress sizes, what you actually end up losing is a connection with your humanity.
Let this new year be the year that you restore that connection.
Allow yourself to be seen as a whole person and not just a body to be fixed.
Instead of spending your time, money and energy on shrinking yourself, get curious about who you are. Explore the world around you. Volunteer.
Do something that makes you fee ALIVE.
Consider it a gift from you to you...with love.