Or is it?
You think this time it will be different. All the magazines and all the marketing has convinced you to start in January. It is the habit we have been trained to do. January is when we start our diet and join a gym.
I know this story so well. Many of us do.
It is a familiar tale where we want a happy ending even though our gut warns us about this path? We walk in with arms wide open and our wallets ready to fork out more cash for a diet book, a plan, a program or some new gimmick.
What if you said no this year? What if you screamed “Enough of the madness”. What if instead of making a New Years resolution to go on a diet and lose weight, you made an intention to love yourself exactly where you were on January 1st.
What if you talked to yourself as your best friend would. The friend who loves you exactly the way you are and when you are with that person you are the best of yourself (that’s what our mates do for us, don’t they: make us be our best selves).
What if you took a deep breath and decided this January you would forgot any diet talk and practice some great self care. Make this month about setting an intention for the rest of your life. An intention keeps you in the moment and a goal keeps you focused more on the future. When I focused on my intention to be at peace with food and my body, the rest fell in to place. This guided me in a gentle and non punitive way.
Focusing on the weight loss created the opposite effect. It created stress and had a built in failure trap.
How would you like to start your New year… gently or with a big stick?
When I decided to stop the dieting I celebrated the end of this journey.Yes, I still wanted to lose weight, but doing it in the same way was sheer madness.
Gradually, gently and quietly I continued on my path. I reread Aesop’s fable about The Tortoise and The Hare.
That was the way to go, and I am still on that path. So many of those hares initially passed me, only to miss the finish line and go back to the start.
And we have all been the hare, determined to lose as much weight as quickly as possible. We don’t just miss the finishing line but we miss the point: it is the steady mindfulness that keeps us focused on our intention. This is a slow and steady journey for life; a relationship with yourself for ever.
Want to start the New Year with a new intention?
You are so worth it.
Thanks for reading,
Christina