New Year, New You? Not Exactly.

I keep hearing this phrase and although it’s meant to be motivational, somehow it seems like more of a put down. Do I really need to be a “new” me? I’d rather just be the best version of me. Are there things I could be doing better? No doubt. But a laundry list of things that I need to fix? That seems like the wrong message.Every January I start the year saying things like, “I’m going to lose ten pounds.” I tick off a huge list of things I want to change or things I need to do and ultimately I feel overwhelmed. Then at the end of the year, when I realize I haven’t accomplished many of the items, I feel bad, only to do the whole thing again the following January.This year I’ve decided to do things a bit differently. Rather than tell myself all the things that I need to change, I am going to create a vision board of all the things I would like to accomplish this year…big picture stuff. Semantics? Maybe. But the way we talk to ourselves matters.

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This year I’m going to put on my board “Be Active Everyday.” If the end result is losing ten pounds, great. If not, the simple fact that I am engaging in physical activity every day is a win and will ultimately end up with a healthier me.I’ve never been a vision board kind of person. I don’t know why not, I just never have. But the irony of that is that I believe entirely in the concept of visualization. If you envision something happening -- put it into the universe, if you will -- and force yourself to contemplate it daily, you are more likely to actively take steps to make it happen. That alone makes it more likely.So rather than tell yourself all the things you need to do this year, consider visualizing the result of those actions. For instance, my board will have photos of lines I’d like to bring into Bellacara. A lot of work has to be done to get those lines, but rather than list out the twenty things I have to accomplish in order to make that a reality, I’m going to look at the photo every day. That will encourage me to do something each day to realize that goal.It is a new year, and in some ways, maybe it is a new me, a me who plans to start this year without a checklist of changes, but rather a vision of how I see the best year ahead.

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