2017: Time To Celebrate The Real You
It’s a brand new year and with it comes the chance to shake off 2016 and claim a fresh start.
If you’re like me, your idea of a fresh start is usually setting a big-time New Year’s Resolution that you just know will magically solve all of your problems and make you into the most ideal version of yourself.
Year after year my resolution is always big, always impossible, and always fails.
Year after year my resolution is always big, always impossible, and always fails. Who even knows why? ::Raises Hand:: I do.
Long before I set each resolution, I know how it will end up. I keep doing it simply because it feels so damn good. I mean, how often do I get to completely ignore where I am today and indulge a fantasy of who I could be tomorrow in just 10 easy steps?
What’s the point?
But every year, somewhere after my third skipped workout and around the time I get bored of whatever task I’m supposed to do to be more impressive, I lose that loving resolution feeling and take a turn toward disappointment.
Over time, this cycle has left me asking: What’s the point?
What’s the point of starting a new year feeling like I have to be anything other than who I am? Or have a life any different than the one I have?
What’s the point of spending energy on a resolution that I know is not going to turn out well? That I know isn’t going to be good for the real me?
So this year, I’m doing things differently and we (at DTGS) are doing things differently. Call it a Resolution if you want, but we’ll be calling it a chance to be good to ourselves… our real, here and now, never perfect, always pretty badass selves.
Are you in?
4 Ways You Can Celebrate Your Very Real, Never Perfect, Always Pretty Badass Self
1. Claim Your Space
As you start the new year, you can expect a plethora of expert advice and calls to revolutionize your life to fill your inbox and your feed. As it does, beware of anything or anyone who makes you feel like you aren’t enough, like you aren’t doing enough, or like you don’t belong.
Remember: The space you occupy in this world is yours. Your body? 100% yours. You are the only one who gets to decide what’s best for you. You. Are. The. Only. One. Who. Can.
2. Get to Know Your Real Self
Letting go of what you’re supposed to do and focusing on what’s good for you can be overwhelming and difficult. The good news though is that you get to decide which next steps fit you best and there is no step too small to be called progress.
One way to start is by putting all the data in front of you so that you can make your decisions based on what you know to be true about yourself and your real life. Ask yourself questions like “What benefits am I looking for?” “How am I motivated?” “What do I actually have room for in my schedule?”
We’ll help.
Click here to talk our New Year’s Self-Assessment Quiz!
3. Commit to Being Good to Yourself
Physical fitness isn’t the thing you do with your life, but it can be one thing that fuels what’s important in your life whether it’s by providing stress relief, self-confidence, personal growth, or all of the above and more.
Try thinking about your workout habit as less of an achievement and more of a weekly commitment to pursuing those benefits.
Here’s one way to start your own weekly commitment:
- Set aside time to check-in with yourself
- Create space by making a plan
- Give it your good stuff
- Celebrate successes and failures
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4. Find Your Support Squad
You’re not alone! While nobody’s life looks exactly like yours, there’s so much that you can learn from and be encouraged by when you share this journey with people you trust.
We’re putting together a series of stories that explore the ways people in our community are claiming their physical space and all the struggles and benefits that they experience through it.
Here’s the first:
Bonus: New Years Tips & Advice For Real People
We searched the internet and found a few more articles containing thoughts and tips for resolutions. Here’s the exciting part, they are actually helpful and for real people:
- ATTN: Here’s a Trick to Make Your New Year’s Resolutions Come True
- Broadly: Why Your New Year’s Resolutions are Doomed to Fail
- HuffPo: A Nutritionist’s Advice For Making Health Resolutions That Won’t Fail
- NY Times: Be It Resolved
- CNN: Nutrition, fitness experts share their resolutions
- ABC News: Forget New Year’s Resolutions, Try New Year’s Intentions
That’s it for now! If you like this story make sure to recommend it. If have thoughts or questions, add them in the comments below.
