New Year...New You?

A fresh start, a new perspective, an opportunity to reset, a time to change, a reclaiming of self, a NEW you. Anyone else feeling pressured to look at their lives and figure out what has been missing or where they went wrong last year? I have never liked the messages that our culture promotes at the beginning of every new year. The messages around changing ones body are paramount, creating chaos in the produce aisles of the grocery store, with everyone fighting to find the ‘right’ things to eat to feel better about themselves. The messages around achievement, where performance and outcomes from the previous year are analyzed in order to improve and ‘be the best you.’ The messages around fully utilizing the capabilities that we possess in order to make our impact on the world, so that this year we feel like our mark has been further made.

Maybe it is just me that is sensitive to the shaming spiral that comes with the word ‘should,’ but I find that living in a more absolutism mindset actually lends itself to perceived failure. What if I don’t meet the goal I set on January 1 for my next year? What does that say about me? That I’m not good enough? As a therapist, my intention is to spend time with clients to continually reflect on their lives in a thoughtful, meaningful, purposeful, and encouraging way. Notice the word continually. It is an ongoing process that we can actively be a part of every day. If we are engaged in an honest way within our own narrative and perspective of the world, there is an aspect of empowerment that accompanies our journey, so that when society delivers a mass overhaul to alter, edit, adapt, shift, change, and improve, we can truthfully say that we are taking a step each day in this direction. It isn’t a sprint that happens every new year, it is a daily walk in each of our journeys that allows for us to feel strong and connected to the direction in which we want to be heading.

So this year, I want to encourage each one of you that the little things you are doing daily, the awareness that you possess about yourself, creates a big impact on this world. You don’t need to be a ‘new you’ in order to be great. You already are, but it is about being able to access this greatness that sometimes requires work on our end to understand what is getting in the way. I like YOU just the way you are and when we begin to accept ourselves from a mindset of abundance, we will remain rooted when the world wants us to believe we aren’t enough, just as we are.

Happy new year, you from last year, and the year before, continuing into this new year. I’m glad to be walking with you.