There it was above a shelf of featured books at the library, "New Year. New You." It was also the subject line of multiple emails from companies/people who purport to have my best interests in mind. And every time I saw it, whether on a friend's social media feed or as part of a corporate marketing campaign, it made me angrier. Why?
The underlying implication of "New Year, New You" is that you are broken, something to be fixed, and the time to do something about it is now at the beginning of the new year. It's complete and utter baloney (can you tell I teach in a public school district?). Don't buy it. Don't believe it. You are not broken. You may feel broken, but you are not broken. You are not something that needs to be fixed.
You are a human being. You will always be a human being. There is no "new you" that you need to strive for or make your goal because you are already you. Now, if you don't feel like you and you would like to feel more like yourself, then you need to come home to yourself. Listening to the "New Year, New You" campaign will not help you come home to yourself because by its very nature it is telling you to look for answers outside of yourself. It's saying that a corporate marketing department knows what you need better than you do. That's baloney! Coming home to yourself means looking inside yourself for answers.
If you are sitting there wondering how you look inside yourself for ways to come home to yourself, who you are, what you value, and what brings you joy, then I have some ideas for you to consider. Have you ever noticed that the "New Year, New You" slogan can feel like someone is shouting at you? Guess what, your body doesn't shout at you. Those answers you have inside you, they don't shout. They sit quietly and invite you to notice them. One way to get quiet is through meditation. And there lots of different forms. You can use the app Headspace. You can take a meditation class. You can set a timer for five minutes, sit still, and just notice every sound you hear.
Did you know that I never talk to health coaching clients about weight or weight loss? Why? Focusing on your weight is a trap to keep you from being yourself. It also is a drain on your valuable time. And it feeds into the idea that you are not lovable just as you are in the same way that "New Year, New You" does. Instead of focusing on a scale, on a number, ask yourself, "How do I want to feel? Daily? Consistently? In my body?" The Desire Map is one book that helps people tap into creating your reality around how you want to feel.
Another way to start leaning into how you want to feel is to create a vision board. Every year I create a vision board as a compass for what I want to bring to fruition as well as how I want to feel. I'll put a funny image on there as a reminder that I need humor and laughter in my life. I'll also put what is important to me. Here is a vision board I created a couple of months after one of my miscarriages. I can remember feeling so foggy, which is why you see the word "clarity" and the phrase "move forward". I wanted to feel clear again, and I was ready to move on. And by the end of that year, I did feel much more clarity. Also, notice that cruise ship? I put it on the board as a placeholder for more travel and grander travel. Be very intentional about what you put on your board. Why? Less than two years later I took a cruise on that very same ship to celebrate my 10-year wedding anniversary.
Please take back your power and don't give into the "New Year, New You" nonsense. You are lovable just as you are. And if you would like to shift from looking for answers outside of yourself to mining the treasures within, there's a number of ways to do that including meditating and creating a vision board.
The underlying implication of "New Year, New You" is that you are broken, something to be fixed, and the time to do something about it is now at the beginning of the new year. It's complete and utter baloney (can you tell I teach in a public school district?). Don't buy it. Don't believe it. You are not broken. You may feel broken, but you are not broken. You are not something that needs to be fixed.
You are a human being. You will always be a human being. There is no "new you" that you need to strive for or make your goal because you are already you. Now, if you don't feel like you and you would like to feel more like yourself, then you need to come home to yourself. Listening to the "New Year, New You" campaign will not help you come home to yourself because by its very nature it is telling you to look for answers outside of yourself. It's saying that a corporate marketing department knows what you need better than you do. That's baloney! Coming home to yourself means looking inside yourself for answers.
If you are sitting there wondering how you look inside yourself for ways to come home to yourself, who you are, what you value, and what brings you joy, then I have some ideas for you to consider. Have you ever noticed that the "New Year, New You" slogan can feel like someone is shouting at you? Guess what, your body doesn't shout at you. Those answers you have inside you, they don't shout. They sit quietly and invite you to notice them. One way to get quiet is through meditation. And there lots of different forms. You can use the app Headspace. You can take a meditation class. You can set a timer for five minutes, sit still, and just notice every sound you hear.
Did you know that I never talk to health coaching clients about weight or weight loss? Why? Focusing on your weight is a trap to keep you from being yourself. It also is a drain on your valuable time. And it feeds into the idea that you are not lovable just as you are in the same way that "New Year, New You" does. Instead of focusing on a scale, on a number, ask yourself, "How do I want to feel? Daily? Consistently? In my body?" The Desire Map is one book that helps people tap into creating your reality around how you want to feel.
Another way to start leaning into how you want to feel is to create a vision board. Every year I create a vision board as a compass for what I want to bring to fruition as well as how I want to feel. I'll put a funny image on there as a reminder that I need humor and laughter in my life. I'll also put what is important to me. Here is a vision board I created a couple of months after one of my miscarriages. I can remember feeling so foggy, which is why you see the word "clarity" and the phrase "move forward". I wanted to feel clear again, and I was ready to move on. And by the end of that year, I did feel much more clarity. Also, notice that cruise ship? I put it on the board as a placeholder for more travel and grander travel. Be very intentional about what you put on your board. Why? Less than two years later I took a cruise on that very same ship to celebrate my 10-year wedding anniversary.
Please take back your power and don't give into the "New Year, New You" nonsense. You are lovable just as you are. And if you would like to shift from looking for answers outside of yourself to mining the treasures within, there's a number of ways to do that including meditating and creating a vision board.
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