Okay it’s coming to the end of the year, we all know the drill. It’s that time where we are all surrounded by the same old messages encouraging us to start an unhealthy ‘quick fix’ diet, a workout regime that claims to drop a dress size in a week and set unrealistic new years resolutions, which lets be honest, are the same every year because we never achieved them last year. Blah blah blah ‘New Year New Me’? How ironic.
Does anyone else get to the end of December and feel like they are being shouted at?
“SIGN UP NOW FOR AN EXCLUSIVE DISCOUNT ON THIS TRAINING PROGRAMME”
“DON’T MISS OUT ON 50% OFF THESE AMAZING DIET SHAKES AND SMOOTHIES”
“START NOW AND GET THAT BIKINI BODY READY FOR THE SUMMER”
“THIS IS YOUR YEAR, WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO ACHIEVE?”
Don’t get me wrong, I love to think of the New Year as starting fresh after having some time off over the Christmas season, reflecting and spending time with those close to me. And setting goals can be helpful (when they are reasonable) but after 2020, these unhelpful messages feel more damaging than ever.
Around this time, we will no doubt see lots of people celebrating the many achievements they were still able to obtain during quarantine, and whilst that is fabulous and you do have the right to be damn proud of yourself, many of us are just thankful to have made it this far, and are perhaps looking at 2021 with an uneasy, uncertain feeling.
2020 has in no doubt been one of the most challenging years I think many of us have experienced, so I don’t blame you if you have the mindset of ‘roll on 2021’, but if you’re like me and will be celebrating New Years in a Tier 4 lockdown, its getting harder to have that positive mentality.
So here’s how I will be beginning my 2021, slowly and softly, an ideal that began in 2020 that I hope will continue. I will be taking my time, as opposed to rushing into January challenges set to burn me out before the first month of the year is over. We don’t know what the year will bring, but after all that’s same as every year, we didn’t know, for example, that we would spend the majority of 2020 staying at home. I’m sure 2021 will bring us more surprises, but what matters most is to give yourself time and be kind. Turn down the consumerism noise and don’t give in to the shouting claiming you need to change or be something else in order to be happy.
You are enough, grow at your own pace. x