New Year, New Me
Hello my beautiful denv.her. pixies! I hope you all had an amazing Christmas!
As we go into 2018, I’m gritting my teeth in anticipation for all the “New year, new me” posts and the “2017 sucked” rants.
As you can probably tell, I’m not a fan when people use the new year as a some sort of crutch to launch themselves into a personal makeover or vehemently complain about their previous year. & like hooray, social media is going to be riddled with these posts in the upcoming days.
Why does the whole “New year, new me” thing bother me? I just think it’s stupid……because it is lol.
Like is a new year really needed to make positive changes? Does the new year flip a switch where everything is going to be fine and dandy in your life if you’re in a rough spot? Ya…. no. Not even close. Life doesn’t work that way. & all I know is that it’s going to be a V rude awakening for all these “New year, new me” individuals when they realize their lives aren’t ever going to be good if constructive changes can only be made on January 1st.
It’s kind of like how we wait till Monday to kick off going to the gym; and if we don’t go on Monday, well, we obvi won’t go the rest of the week.
I have been guilty of this on SO many occasions. & like, let’s be real. We don’t HAVE to start going to the gym on a Monday, to go to the gym. The reason why I don’t go to the gym during the week if I haven’t gone on Monday?
& I can be a tad lazy lol.
But I’ve regretfully started putting down the cake (RIP cake) and going to the gym on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, etc. without going on Monday. & surprise, surpise! It hasn’t killed me.
So does my cynicism towards the new year, new me prophets mean you shouldn’t make resolutions? Absolutely not. Make those resolutions but don't limit yourself to the new year - make resolutions year round. Resolutions don’t have to be tied to a year change.
When making your resolutions, do what it takes to keep them so you’re not making the same resolution year after year. It’s painfully evident that most “New year, new me” repeat offenders (people that legit post this every f*cking year) have no idea how to achieve their goals or how to make their lives better.
You know what making positive changes and obtaining goals in your life takes? It’s certainly more than a cutesy new year, new me tagline.
Generally, the most common goal for people each new year is - I am going to lose weight.
Hypothetically, let’s say this is your goal for 2018. You want to lose weight. This is an awesome goal to have; but, how are you going to get there? With personal resolve and setting measurable and time bound goals.
You’ll always need personal resolve to obtain a goal. Vocabulary.com states ”resolve refers to a strong determination to do something. If you make a New Year's resolution to exercise every day, you'll need plenty of resolve to stick with your program.”
Watered down version? You have to be strong minded to reach your goal. You have to want to reach your goal.
The next most important thing to do when setting a goal is to make your goal measurable. You do this by adding specifics to your goal that are feasible & thus achievable.
Let’s go back to the losing weight goal. How many pounds do you want to lose? When do you want to lose this weight by? How many times/week are you going to go to the gym to make this goal a reality? Including precise amounts, dates, and time like this allows you to measure your success.
The “last year sucked” posts are irritating, obviously because it’s someone blatantly complaining via social media. It’s also annoying because if you had a bad year...no offense…but it’s really...kind of...all your fault.
If “2017 was sh*tty,” you’re choosing to be pessimistic. You’re choosing to have a negative mindset on an entire year that YOU had control over.
Yes, I realize that bad things can happen that are out of our control such as breakups, relationship trouble, job trouble, even deaths - but at the end of the day, it’s how you handle each of these adversities that is going to define the event.
Let's say you got broken up with in 2017. Did you spend your entire year pining about your ex? Stalking them and wasting your time? Your fault.
Let's say your relationship had huge downfalls in 2017. Did you spend your entire year fighting with your significant other instead of doing something about it like seeing a relationship counselor? Your fault.
Let's say you got laid off/fired from a job you hated in 2017. Did you simply find another mediocre job you dislike? Your fault.
Let's say someone close to you died in 2017. Did you wallow in sorrow instead of celebrating the life they had? Your fault.
Now you're getting what I'm putting down!
One thing you can always count on? Bad things are going to happen each year. It’s unfortunate, but it’s inevitable. It’s life. & life can be unpredictably sh*tty. Handle your adversities with grace and don’t waste your time (MUCH LESS A WHOLE YEAR) feeling sorry for yourself! If something bad happens, don’t let it destroy you, do something about it instead.
& for God’s sake, do not complain about your year via social media.
I’ll leave you with the following quote:
“I stopped waiting for the light at the end of the tunnel and lit that bitch up myself.”
Do the damn thing bishes. Happy New Year & cheers to 2018!!
